Weirdness at Waverly Academy
by Arglefumph
Summary: Nancy goes to Waverly Academy, where she is overwhelmed by the other students, challenging puzzles, and keeping her real identity a secret. A humorous version of "Warnings at Waverly Academy".
1. The Letter

**Author's Note: **This is a series of short (1-2 page) chapters, which covers the events of _Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy_. I was inspired by another Nancy Drew humor story, entitled _Legend of the Shiny Skull of Doom_.

I am the same person who makes Nancy Drew walkthroughs on Youtube, under the alias "arglefumph".

* * *

><p><strong>Weirdness at Waverly Academy<strong>

Nancy Drew read the letter that had been forwarded to her by Mattie Jensen. A school called the Waverly Academy for Girls was being plagued by a series of mysterious accidents. Mattie knew Nancy was good at discovering the truth behind deadly accidents, so she thought Nancy could help the people at Waverly.

Nancy tilted her head as she thought about it. Solve a mystery at a high school? She hadn't been to school in a long time. As in, a _really_ long time. Nancy went on mystery-solving expeditions and vacations so often that she really didn't have time for school. In fact, she was failing half of her classes at River Heights High, mainly because it had been two months since she last stepped foot inside a classroom.

Nancy reread the letter, and her mystery senses started tingling. A student poisoned for no reason? Another student locked inside a closet? And something about a cute little kitty cat? This could be her most interesting case yet!

"Hey, Dad?" Nancy said.

Carson Drew looked up from his legal paperwork and adjusted his glasses. "Yes, Honey?"

"I'm going to need you to write out a form to get me out of school this week," Nancy said.

_"Again?"_ Carson asked.

"There's a mystery for me to solve in New York," Nancy explained.

_"Again?"_ Carson asked.

"Again," Nancy said.


	2. Becca Sawyer Is Awesome

Nancy put her bag down on the desk as she walked into her bedroom at Waverly Academy. Sitting at a desk in the corner of the room was a short black girl, who turned around as Nancy entered.

"Hey, you're the new person," the girl said. "Uh, Becca something. Becca Sawyer."

Nancy nodded. She was working under a false name for this case, partly because it was cool and partly because if she used her _real_ name, she'd end up getting Facebook requests from everyone she met here. Trust me, the _last _thing Nancy Drew needs is more Facebook requests.

Besides, working under a fake name was a great opportunity. Nancy had the rare chance to literally become someone else. She could form a brand new personality and identity. Back home, people called Nancy the weird girl who solves mysteries. But here, Becca Sawyer would be the coolest girl on campus!

"I'm Corine," the girl continued. "The person who's stuck rooming with you. I mean, you're the person who's stuck rooming with me! Anyway, welcome to my—your—our humble dwelling space."

_Awkward much?_ Nancy thought.

"So, what happened the girl who used to live here?" Nancy asked.

"Danielle? She had kind of a bad experience," Corine said. "She got locked in a pitch black closet overnight. See, she was claustrophobic, so when they found her the next morning, she could barely talk, and when I got back from class that afternoon, she'd just...left. No note, no call, no text—nothing. I should probably tell you...

"Some of the kids on this floor have been getting these like threatening notes from somebody calling herself the Black Cat. The first note's a warning, but if you get a second one? Something really bad happens to you.

"And last week, the girl in the room next door, Megan Vargas? She got a second note, and that night at dinner, she ate something she was allergic to, and had such a bad reaction that she had to go home. Somebody's obviously playing a prank, but a lot of kids here are starting to get really freaked out. Anyway. Now that you're here..."

Corine paused for a second, and Nancy wondered if this meant she was going to stop talking. Apparently, this was not the case, as Corine continued.

"First thing you gotta do is read the Waverly student guide, which is online. If you don't have a laptop—it doesn't look like you do. That one little bag is all you brought?"

Nancy cringed slightly. She was only going to be in Waverly for three days, so she hadn't packed much. Until now, she hadn't considered the fact that her lack of school supplies was slightly suspicious.

_Uh oh, _Nancy thought. _I can't blow my cover this early on in the case!_

Nancy smiled, as she thought of the perfect way to get out of this tricky situation. She'd turn everything around, with one of Becca Sawyer's trademark sassy comments.

"My stuff is being shipped from France," she said. "I can't believe my luggage hasn't arrived yet! Baggage _claim?_ More like baggage _lame!_ Am I right?"

Corine stared at Nancy with a blank expression. No, wait. Her expression wasn't entirely blank. There was something in her eyes...was it a hint of pity? Nancy scratched her head.

"Anyway, what were you saying about this place?" Nancy asked.

"Well, since you don't have a laptop, you can get online by jumping on the computer in the library," Corine said. "Just make sure you read the part in the guide about Waverly's demerit system really well. It's enforced by Paige. Believe me, you do not want to mess with her. Let's see, what else...?"

Nancy wasn't worried about demerits. Sure, Nancy Drew got detention a lot—mostly for skipping classes in order to follow suspects—but Becca Sawyer _never_ got in trouble. She was awesome that way.

"Oh yeah—this floor's special because only seniors who are viable candidates for valedictorian live up here. Whoever's named valedictorian gets a full ride scholarship to the university of her choice, so it's a pretty big deal. 'Course, the only truly viable candidate is me."

_I think I just found the Black Cat's motive,_ Nancy thought smugly.


	3. The Queen of Awkward

Nancy smiled. She had only been in Waverly for five minutes, and the case was practically solved. The mysterious Black Cat only targeted valedictorian candidates. The valedictorian that year would get a huge scholarship. Clearly, someone wanted the huge scholarship, and she was using underhanded tactics to get rid of the competition.

Nancy took a moment to confirm this theory. "You mean the only girls to get notes from this Black Cat person are girls who're in the running to be valedictorian?"

"I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah," Corine said. "I guess that's right. Maybe somebody's jealous of us smart kids or something. Or maybe it's one of us. Maybe somebody's trying to scare off her competition."

_Hey, I thought of that first! _Nancy thought. _No stealing my idea!_

"Whatever. It's not gonna work on me," Corine said confidently.

"Really?" Nancy asked. "Have you ever gotten one of these Black Cat notes?"

"Yeah, I got one about three days ago," Corine said calmly.

_Evidence!_ Nancy thought. "No kidding. May I see it?"

"Sorry," Corine said. "I took one look at it and tore it up. But if you'd like to see the note my ex-roommate got, that one's right here."

Corine pulled out the note. There was a black pawprint on the paper, with blood-colored scratches. _The Black Cat is watching._ was written on top. All in all, it was kind of creepy.

"When she got this, how did she react?" Nancy asked.

"She tried to laugh it off, but I think she was really scared," Corine said. "She was pretty neurotic."

_Um...your roommate gets sent home after having a panic attack, and you get rid of all of her things except the threatening note she received? Who's the neurotic one again?_

"Did she talk to you a lot?" Nancy asked.

"No, not really," Corine said. She tried to fake a laugh. "I mean, you've probably said more to me now in the past five minutes that Danielle said to me in the past month!"

_Uh...no comment, _Nancy thought.

"What're you working on?" Nancy asked Corine. "You look so busy."

"Busy? That's the understatement of the year," Corine said. "I've got four days to write a thirty page research paper utilizing a bibliography that has to include at least six published—no online stuff—_published_ sources. Any other student would hate having you bug them like this. But then, I'm not all that normal, so you can bug me all you want. Not that you're bugging me. Well, you are, technically, but you're not really because I'm so—Never mind."

The conversation with Corine had proven one thing, at least: Corine was Captain Awkward. The somewhat depressing cello music playing in the background fit the situation perfectly.

Nancy frowned. That wasn't background music, coming from Corine's laptop. Someone was actually playing a cello nearby.

"Where's that cello music coming from?" Nancy asked.

"Next door. That's Mel Corbalis."

"Does she ever stop playing?" Nancy asked.

"Depends on her mood," Corine said. "When she's really, really down, I'll bet if they didn't give demerits for make noise after hours, she'd play that thing 24-7."

_Interesting..._ Nancy thought. _A depressed cellist._

"Well, guess I'd better go start meeting people," Nancy said.

"Yeah, guess you'd better," Corine said wistfully. Her royal awkwardness seemed upset to end a conversation with the only person who was willing to talk to her. "I'm not so bad, right?"

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked politely, pretending she didn't know that Corine was talking about her social awkwardness.

"It's just that...well, you're about to find out that I'm not exactly the most..." Corine sighed. "Never mind. You'll see soon enough."

With that, Corine turned around and returned to her research paper.


	4. Unpacking

Nancy took a deep breath. She had just finished talking with her new roommate, Corine Meyers, the Queen of Awkward.

_I should get things in order here, before I explore the campus_, Nancy thought. Waverly Academy for Girls was a pretty big school, but she knew that she would have to spend most of her time here in the valedictorian dorm. After all, this was where all the attacks had taken place.

Nancy turned around. Her side of the room was rather empty. The only thing here that really belonged to Nancy was the bag on the desk.

Nancy reached into the bag and pulled out a framed photograph of her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, from their trip on Dread Isle. The only other things in Nancy's bag were a hairbrush and a change of clothes.

_I really should have packed more things,_ Nancy thought as she put the photo down on the desk, next to the...was that a note? Nancy picked it up.

_Hello Becca,_

_Welcome to Waverly!_

_Since you just transferred here and don't really have any papers due or exams to study for (unlike the rest of us!), I could really use your help on this project I'm working on. Please come see me as soon as you can; my room's at the other end of the hall._

_Thank you so much!_

_Rachel_

"Someone named Rachel wants me to come to her room," Nancy said.

"Rachel Hubbard," Corine said. "She's in the room at the end of the hall."

"Okay," Nancy said to herself. It would probably be a good idea to make friends with Rachel by helping her with her project. As long as Rachel didn't have any chores for Nancy to do, everything would be fine. Nancy really hated doing other people's chores for them.


	5. Meeting Izzy

Nancy decided it was time to leave her room. She opened the door and ran right into a girl with dark hair and impeccably folded clothing.

"Woah, watch it!" the girl said, an angry look on her face. Then she broke into a grin. "Oh, your hair's on fire—no wonder you're in a hurry."

"My...hair's on fire?" Nancy asked.

"Just kidding," the girl said. "Red hair looks really good on some people. I'm Izzy Romero."

_Did she just make fun of my hair?_ Nancy wondered.

"I'm Becca Sawyer," Nancy said. "I just transferred here."

"Where're you from?" Izzy asked.

"From the States originally, but I came here by way of France," Nancy said. "It's a long story."

"Chouette alors," Izzy said.

Nancy didn't speak French, but she had the sneaking suspicion that Izzy had said something mean about her hair. Nancy ran her fingers through her reddish locks, making sure that there was nothing wrong with it.

"Lemme have your cell phone," Izzy demanded.

"My...cell phone?" Nancy asked. _First she makes fun of my hair, then she robs me? Who is this girl?_

"Yeah, so I can set you up on the local network," Izzy said. "It'll just take a second."

"Okay," Nancy said warily. She handed over her cell phone, and Izzy started tapping on the touchscreen.

"This way, you'll be able to get texted and keep up on all the breaking news," Izzy said.

_Uh...my phone could already receive text messages..._ Nancy thought.

"There ya go," Izzy said, handing the phone back to Nancy. Izzy looked rather cheerful. "Look, my room's on the other side of the study hall, but lately I've been spending most of my time in the library. So come talk to me! I'm student body president, which means when it comes to the lay of the land, I got the best map. See ya."

Izzy left, going down the stairs to the library. Nancy stood there for a second, absorbing the entire conversation.

_She's got the best map, but I've got the best hair,_ Nancy eventually decided. _Next time I see her, I'll have to remember to be more aggressive, otherwise she'll just step all over me_.


	6. Pink Attack

Nancy took a look around the hallway. To her left were the stairs that led to the library, and to the right was a doorway, leading to the room with the cellist.

The nameplate on the door read "Mel Corbalis". Nancy knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice said.

Nancy opened the door to Mel's room and stepped inside. Everything in the room was pink. Black and pink. Sitting on a bed on the far side of the room was a girl with pink and black hair.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" Nancy screamed. "TOO...MUCH...PINK!"

Nancy turned and ran out the door at top speed.


	7. Welcome to Waverly

Nancy returned to Mel's room, five minutes later. Now that Nancy was in the room a second time, she could see that it wasn't _all_ pink. There was a lot of black and purple in the room as well, to give it an overall dark, semi-gothic theme.

"Sorry about leaving earlier," Nancy said. "I had to go to the bathroom."

"Uh, right," said the girl who was obviously Mel Corbalis. "Who're you?"

"I'm Becca Sawyer," Nancy said. "I just moved into the room next door."

"Oh, yeah, you're the transfer," Mel said, smiling slightly. "The one who got kicked out of some school in France?"

"What? No, I didn't!" Nancy said.

Mel pointed at her cell phone with her bow. Er, that is, the bow that you use to play musical instruments. Not the bow you wear in your hair. Mel had two pink bows in her hair, which matched her pink eyeshadow and pink lipstick. Pink pink pink pink pink.

"The primary source of all wisdom and truth around here has been all abuzz," Mel said.

Nancy frowned. This was bad. Her alter ego was supposed to be Becca Sawyer, Sassy Detective, not Becca Sawyer, French Reject. Nancy decided she would have to save the day with one of Becca's trademark sassy quips.

"Wisdom and truth? More like, wisdom and _uncouth!_" Nancy said. "Me, get kicked out of France? Why, I'm so good at school that when I got here, the faculty asked me to give _them_ grades!"

"Hey, look, whatever, I don't really care," Mel said, shrugging. "But you gotta admit, it's weird, transferring in the middle of the semester. And the less gory details you give as to why you got here, the more kids are gonna talk. Or should I say, text."

"So I'm the source of rumors already?" Nancy asked.

"Welcome to Waverly," Mel said. "Good luck getting out of here alive."

Mel didn't say that last part out loud, but Nancy could have sworn she did.


	8. Meeting Mel

Our hero, Nancy Drew, was currently visiting her next-door neighbor, Mel Corbalis. Mel's room was a mixture between a pink princess party and a haunted house, which sort of creeped Nancy out, to be honest.

"So, where's your roommate?" Nancy asked, trying to sound cheerful.

"She's not here right now," Mel said. "She's the one who got sent home with an allergic reaction, after being _cursed_ by the Black Cat."

"You sound a little skeptical," Nancy noted.

"The Black Cat is just someone playing an idiotic prank, end of story," Mel said. "Of course, that's _not_ the end of the story for my roommate Megan, who got sent to the hospital after eating something she's allergic to, but it's still a dumb prank."

Nancy gasped with fake surprise. "What happened?" she asked, as if Mel hadn't mentioned the allergic reaction twice already.

"Look, enough about the Black Cat," Mel said, looking somewhat annoyed. "The other girls can buy into that garbage all they want, but me? I refuse to give whoever's behind this the satisfaction. So if you have any questions for Megan, I think you should call her yourself. 543-555-5432."

Nancy made a mental note to _never_ give her cell phone number to Mel, seeing as Mel apparently made a habit of giving her roommate's cell phone number out to complete strangers. And speaking of roommates...

"What do you think about my roommate, Corine?" Nancy asked.

"She's all right, I guess," Mel said. "I feel kind of bad for her, though. She doesn't really have any friends."

"Because she's awkward?" Nancy asked.

"No, because she's overly concerned with other people's opinions," Mel said. "Me, I don't care much about what other people think about me. But Corine? She cares a _lot_, and it shows."

"So, in other words, she's kind of a loser who's desperate for the approval of others," Nancy summarized.

"Exactly," Mel agreed.

_"I am NOT a loser!"_ Corine shouted through the wall.

Nancy and Mel were silent for a moment.

_"Guys?"_ Corine shouted. _"You...you still like me, right?"_

Nancy decided to wrap up the conversation quickly after that. "You play the cello very well," she said.

"Thank you," Mel said. "I taught myself to play when I was ten."

"Does the school here have an orchestra?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, but as you may have guessed, I'm not much of a joiner," Mel said.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around," Nancy said, taking a step towards the exit.

"Door's always open," Mel said.


	9. The Sampler in the Corner

Nancy left Mel's room. Now that she was nine chapters into the story, she figured it would be a good time to check her...

**Suspect List**

1. Corine Meyers, AKA the Queen of Awkward. My roommate.  
>2. Mel Corbalis, the cello girl who likes pink.<br>3. Rachel Hubbard. Wants me to help her with the school website.  
>4. Izzy Romero. Student Body President. She made fun of my hair.<p>

One of these suspects was definitely the Black Cat, unless it was the fifth character who Nancy hadn't met yet. The Black Cat attacked the various...

**Victims**

1. Megan Vargas, sent home due to an allergic reaction.  
>2. Danielle Hayes, claustrophobic girl who was locked in a closet.<br>3. Nancy Drew, AKA me. Forced to solve yet another mystery.

Nancy nodded. The lists of suspects and victims was in order. Now to check...

**The To-Do List**

1. Read the rules on the Waverly School website.  
>2. Meet Rachel and learn about the web project she's working on.<br>3. Talk with Izzy in the library and learn more about the school.  
>4. Call Megan Vargas and learn more about how the Black Cat attacked her.<br>5. Find a way to snoop around Mel's room without attracting her suspicion.

The only thing on the to-do list that was crossed off was "meet my new roommate," and that really didn't count, because you automatically go through the conversation with Corine when the game starts.

"I guess I'll go back and see Mel again," Nancy said. She turned around and re-entered Mel's room.

"Weren't you just here?" Mel asked.

"I forgot to check something," Nancy said. She went straight to the corner—the only part of the room she could examine in more detail—and took a good look at the hand-stitched sampler.

_Looking for something  
>Is what life is for.<br>If you want to solve this mystery, Miss Nancy Drew,  
>You must read much followed by Moore<em>

"Moore..." Nancy said. "I wonder why it's capitalized...and spelled with two o's. Is this sampler as old as it looks?"

"It's _old_, that's for sure," Mel said. "My great-great-great grandmother made it. She was in the first class that graduated from Waverly. Everyone in my family who comes here has to hang it up in her room. It's tradition."

"Hmmm..." Nancy said to herself. The game seemed to be putting a lot of emphasis on this sampler in the corner of Mel's room. On a whim, Nancy flipped open her notebook to find a brand new item on her to-do list.

6. Figure out who Moore is—refers to a book, maybe?—from the sampler in Mel's room.

"Wow, they practically _give_ you the solution to this puzzle on Junior Mode," Nancy said. "I guess this means I'll have to go to the library and find the book that Moore wrote."

"Um..." Mel said.

"Now, true, every single person in Mel's family, going back over a hundred years, has had this clue," Nancy said. "But hopefully, they were all a bunch of idiots who couldn't figure it out! Because I'll be the first person to solve this mystery and find Moore, or my name isn't Nancy Drew!"

"Becca, do you always talk to yourself when you're standing in corners?" Mel asked.

_Oh, crud,_ Nancy thought.

"Ha ha! No! Don't be silly!" Nancy said. "I was just...practicing a monologue for the school play!"

"But you just arrived here ten minutes ago," Mel said. "How do you already have a part in the school play?"

"Duh, I'm _auditioning_ for the school play," Nancy said. "You should totally audition with me! You'd be _perfect_ for the role of...um...the cellist with the pink bows in her hair!"

Mel just stared at Nancy, a confused look on her face.

"I gotta go! See ya!" Nancy said, running out of Mel's room at top speed.

Nancy wiped off some sweat as she walked down the stairs near Mel's room. For a moment there, it looked like she almost accidently blew her cover as a secret detective. But now everything was back to normal, and once again, everyone knew that Becca Sawyer was the coolest girl in school.

Nancy's cell phone beeped as she went downstairs. She picked it up to read a text that was sent to everyone in the dorm.

_New girl Becca S. is kind of a spaz._

"No way!" Nancy said. "There's _another_ new girl here called Becca S.? What a crazy coincidence!"


	10. The Special Collections Cabinet

Nancy entered the school library for the first time. It was everything a modern school could ask for in a library. Lots of room, over 300,000 items in the collection, study areas and...

"Only _one_ computer?" Nancy asked. "A school this big, and they only have _one_ computer?"

Nancy sighed. She had to read the Waverly Student Handbook online, so she sat down in front of the computer. It only had two icons: one for the school website, and one for the library catalogue.

Nancy clicked on the school website. An error screen popped up, telling her that the site was blocked unless she had the right password.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Nancy said. The school computer couldn't do anything besides visit two websites...and one of those websites was blocked. What kind of school prevents its own students from visiting the school's website?

Fortunately, the library catalogue website was working. Nancy did a search for "Moore", and she discovered that The Story of Four by Madeline Moore was currently inside the Special Collections cabinet.

Nancy walked over to the cabinet. The book was clearly on display. Nancy grabbed the door handle and...

"It's locked," Nancy said.

Nancy took a step backwards and looked around. On top of the special display cabinet were two Waverly flags. Nancy unscrewed the flag on the left, then used it to break the glass of the display cabinet.

"Now it's unlocked," Nancy said, smugly.

"Becca, what are you doing?" Izzy asked, in horror at Nancy's blatant destruction.

"Getting a book," Nancy said.

Suddenly, Nancy magically disappeared from the library and reappeared back inside her room. Her cell phone beeped, and she saw a text from Paige Griffen, the floor monitor, telling her that she got three demerits for destroying school property.

"How did I end up back here?" Nancy wondered. She left her room and went right back downstairs. Amazingly, the broken display cabinet was magically repaired.

"Let's try this again," Nancy said. She unscrewed a Waverly flag, then used it to smash open the glass of the cabinet. Then, Nancy reached inside and grabbed the copy of The Story of Four.

"You can't break things like that!" Izzy said. "I'm telling!"

One second later, Nancy was back in her room. The book had magically disappeared from her hands.

"I don't believe this!" Nancy said.

Nancy marched downstairs and threw open the doors to the library, and she was shocked to find that, once again, the special collections cabinet had been repaired. Either Waverly Academy had a really efficient glass-maker on the staff, or they had an unlimited supply of special collections cabinets.

"Third time's the charm," Nancy said, unscrewing the Waverly flag again. "And if Izzy tells on me again, I'm going to tell her to—woah!"

Paige, the angry floor monitor, grabbed Nancy by the back of her neck and dragged her away from the cabinet. "If you even _think_ about breaking the cabinet again, I will have you expelled," Paige threatened.

Nancy shuddered. She had never seen Paige before, and from up close, the older girl looked like Nancy's friend George, mixed with a gorilla.

"Fine!" Nancy said. "I'll open the cabinet the normal way, by finding a key! Sheesh!"


	11. The Internet Password

Nancy frowned. The trip to the library had proved rather useless. The book she wanted was locked in a special cabinet, and she couldn't use the computer until the student body president gave her the right Internet password.

Fortunately, Izzy Romero was the student body president, and she was inside the library, studying. Sure, Izzy made fun of Nancy's hair earlier, but maybe Izzy would be helpful now.

"Bonjour!" Izzy said. "Unfortunately, that and _chouette alors_ are the only French I know. Hey, my condolences on your roommate assignment. You know, it might not be too late to get it changed..."

Nancy shrugged. She was only going to be investigating here for a few days, so it wasn't like the roommate situation was permanent.

"Yeah, back in France, I had my _own_ room, all to myself," Nancy said. "But Corine doesn't seem that bad. At least _she_ never made fun of my hair."

"Hey, that comment I made about your hair being on fire was just a joke," Izzy said. "Don't tell me you got offended by that."

"Oh, I'm not offended," Nancy said. "I'm just saying, Corine probably has some friends you don't know about."

"Uh, no," Izzy said. "Corine doesn't have any friends. Last I heard, only two people have added her on Facebook, and they were both her relatives."

"Oh, ouch," Nancy said. "I didn't know she was _that_ unpopular."

"But look, don't worry," Izzy said. "Everybody knows rooming with Corine wasn't _your_ idea. As long as you don't hang out with her, nobody's going to hold it against you."

"Just out of curiosity, who's your roommate?" Nancy asked.

"My roommate's Leela Yadav," Izzy said. "Athletic superstar and savior of Waverly's athletic program. We actually get along fine. Probably because we're pretty much equals. Everyone knows who she is, and everyone knows who I am."

_Izzy's kind of full of herself,_ Nancy thought.

"A word to the wise," Izzy said. "Avoid hanging out with your roommate as much as possible."

"Okay, I get the picture," Nancy said. "You're not a big fan of Captain Awkward. I didn't come here to talk to you about her. I came to talk about the school computer."

"The school computer?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, it says I can't use the Internet until I get a password from you," Nancy said.

"That's right," Izzy said. "Unfortunately, I need to finish this DNA model before I can give it to you. Too bad, huh?"

Nancy didn't like the tone of Izzy's voice. It was the same tone of voice other people used, when they wanted Nancy to do their chores.

"Um, sure, it's too bad," Nancy said.

"If only there was _someone_ who could help me," Izzy said. "Then I'd be free to give you the password."

_No, no, no, no! I do not want to do her work for her!_ Nancy thought.

"Someone who just moved in and doesn't have any homework yet..." Izzy said.

"Someone like...me?" Nancy asked.

"Good thinking, Fire Hair!" Izzy said. "Sure, you can do my DNA project for me!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Nancy screamed.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Making fun of Nancy's hair _and _forcing her to do a chore at the same time? That's just hairrible.


	12. The DNA Model Puzzle

Our heroine, Nancy Drew, was not in a good mood. She was being forced to do Izzy Romero's homework, in exchange for the Internet password.

"You just have to make sure that adenine is always paired with thymine, and cytosine is always paired with guanine," Izzy lectured Nancy. "And make sure each pair is connected to a sugar on the alternating sugar-phosphate side."

_No...no...please, just stop..._ Nancy thought sadly. She didn't know what any of those things were.

"Just jump in. You'll figure it out," Izzy said. "When you're done, bring it back, and if you're right, I'll give you the password."

"Okay..." Nancy moaned. She grabbed the messy DNA model pieces, then went to a nearby study desk and spread them out. The pieces were mostly just colored balls, connected by pink sticks.

Izzy's handwritten note told Nancy that each color represented a different molecule. Or were they atoms? Nancy had no idea. She sort of failed that part of her high school biology class, because she had been solving a mystery in Canada the week her class went over DNA.

Nancy flipped open her notebook, which had all the details written out. Adenine was yellow, and it always connected to the black one. The red and blue ones always connected together, and the two longer ends alternated with white and brown. It was sort of like a weird jigsaw puzzle.

It took ten minutes, but Nancy finally got all the pieces together. She held up the DNA model proudly, ready to declare her victory over the evil, evil puzzle, when it fell into pieces.

"That means you got it wrong," Izzy called from across the room.

"Yeah, I figured that out!" Nancy snarled back at Izzy.

_Now I know why she wants me to do this,_ Nancy thought. _This is impossible! I'm not a science person, like George or the lab technicians or...hey, wait! The lab technicians! Those guys deal with DNA all the time!_

Nancy pulled out her cell phone and called the River Heights Police Department. She talked with Chief McGinnis for a bit, then she got transferred over to the people at the police laboratory.

"Nancy! How are you?" the lab technician said. "I haven't heard from you since you figured out who stole my car! Thanks again for that!"

"I'm fine, and you're welcome," Nancy said. "That mystery wasn't so hard. It only took me five minutes to figure out that your daughter crashed it."

"I'm still grateful," the lab technician said. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, I have to make a DNA model for a school assignment," Nancy said. "But I'm not sure how the pieces fit together."

"The pieces?"

"Yes, I'll send you a picture of the DNA pieces on my phone," Nancy said. "If you could put them together for me, that'd be great. You just have to make sure that adenine is always paired with thymine, and cytosine is always paired with guanine. And make sure each pair is connected to a sugar on the alternating sugar-phosphate side."

"_Nooooo!_" the lab technician moaned. _"You want me to work for you? Everyone always makes me do their chores for them! I'm sick of it!"_

"On second thought...maybe I'll solve the puzzle myself," Nancy said.


	13. The Black Cat Story

Nancy eventually managed to solve the DNA model puzzle. She went back to Izzy and placed it in front of the student body president.

"There, I'm done," Nancy said. "_Now_ can you tell me the password?"

"Awesome," Izzy said. "Okay, the computer password is WAC35NE136."

Nancy copied that down in her notebook.

"Anything else?" Izzy asked.

"Uh...sure," Nancy said. "What do you think about the other students here, like Megan or Mel?"

"Oh, Mel," Izzy said, half-laughing. "All that edgy, free spirit, deep thinking stuff is just an act. She knows that she can't cut it here, so she's making it look like she doesn't care."

"Maybe she really _doesn't_ care," Nancy said.

"Everybody cares what other people think," Izzy said. "In fact, if they don't, they're psychopaths. I just learned that in AP Psych."

Nancy had a feeling Izzy knew a lot about psychopaths.

"Speaking of psychopaths, have you gotten any notes from the Black Cat?" Nancy asked.

"Everyone on the Val Can floor has," Izzy said. Then, seeing the blank look on Nancy's face, she added, "The valedictorian candidate floor. Our floor."

"Oh, right..." Nancy said. She had been thrown off by the fact that there was no real reason to name the different floors in a two-story building. "I think the notes are kind of creepy."

"I think they're just a stupid distraction, and the person sending them should be expelled," Izzy said. "Not that who that person is is any great mystery."

"It isn't?" Nancy asked. Had Izzy solved the mystery without telling anyone?

"It's Mel," Izzy said. "Like I said, she's a little psycho. And black cats, strange mishaps—it all fits in with the inane goth thing she's got going on. I mean, who else could it be?"

"Maybe somebody is trying to frame her," Nancy said, trying to be logical. "You know, they pick an alias that fits with Mel, to cast suspicion off of themselves. Why else pick a name like the Black Cat?"

"Well..." Izzy said, looking around to make sure no one else was near them. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but..."

"Mel has a boyfriend?" Nancy asked.

"What?" Izzy asked. "No! I'm trying to say that—"

"Pink isn't her natural hair color?" Nancy asked. "Yeah, I kind of guessed that."

"No!" Izzy said. "I mean—"

"Oh! You used to be a goth, and you're secretly jealous of Mel because she pulls off the goth look way better than you did!" Nancy said.

"Stop interrupting!" Izzy said. "I'm trying to tell you the story of the Black Cat."

"Oh," Nancy said.

Izzy's voice went low. "Supposedly, there was a teacher here once, long ago, who none of the students liked. They were always playing tricks on her, scaring her and stuff, until one day one of their pranks gave her a heart attack, and she died. Her black cat went running off into the woods during the funeral and never came back. But for years after that, people would spot it, lurking in the shadows, and whenever it did, something bad would happen. They said it was the teacher, Miss Hallowell, coming back as her cat to get revenge."

"Interesting..." Nancy said. So the school had a history of being plagued by a black cat who brought bad luck?

"Somebody here's obviously trying to get some mileage out of a silly ghost story," Izzy said. "One the headmistress is trying desperately to squelch, by the way, so remember, you didn't hear it from me."

"My lips are sealed," Nancy said. "But hey, before I go, I just want to know one more thing from you. What do you think your chances of making valedictorian are?"

"Chance has nothing to do with it," Izzy said. "I deserve to be valedictorian, therefore, I'm going to _be_ valedictorian."

"Your grades are _that _good?" Nancy asked.

"It's not just a matter of getting the highest grades," Izzy said. "The faculty also looks at extracurricular activities, leadership, community service, school spirit—things I totally excel it."

"I get it now," Nancy said. "You're counting on your status as student body president to put you over the top of the competition."

Izzy nodded. "I'm going to be valedictorian, and then I'm going to Harvard," she said.

"Good plan," Nancy said. "Of course, your chances of being valedictorian might drop once the school learns that you force other people to do your homework, but I guess that's a risk you're willing to take."

Izzy froze. _"What?"_ she asked.

"I'm just saying, if _someone_ were to tell the biology teacher that she did your DNA model, not you, well...things could be bad for you," Nancy said.

"Are you threatening me?" Izzy asked. "You can't _prove_ you put the model together!"

"Can't I?" Nancy asked, pretending to examine her fingernails. "If you try to make me do your homework again, I guess we'll find out."

Izzy started fuming, but Nancy turned and walked away from the angry student body president.

"Oh, by the way," Nancy said, casting a backwards glance towards Izzy. "Nice hair."


	14. Checking In with Carson

Becca Sawyer patted her straight red hair. She had just put one over Izzy Romero, the student body president! That was brilliant! Becca was well on her way to becoming the coolest girl in school! Why, _she_ would become the valedictorian this year, and she'd—

_What?_

Nancy Drew shook her head.

_I'm getting a little too much into character here,_ Nancy thought. _I'm here to solve a mystery, not to become popular. Becca Sawyer is just a cover._

Nancy went to the school computer and logged on, with the Internet password from Izzy. She was going to send a quick email to her father, letting him know that she arrived at her destination safely, but it turned out that the computer could only connect to the school website.

_I went through all that trouble, just to reach the school website?_ Nancy thought. _If this is the only website the computer can connect to, why did they block it?_

The website had more information about the school and the various rules. The rules were all obvious things, like no sneaking out of your room after curfew, no climbing the tree in the yard, and no breaking the special collections cabinet with a flag.

_Would have been nice if I knew that last one four chapters ago... _Nancy thought.

The most important thing on the list of school rules was the part about the snack shack. All new students—AKA Nancy—had to work the snack shack at least once a day. You got demerits if you skipped out on snack shack duties, and you got credits if you did snack shack more than once a day.

_Great, the school is too cheap to hire people to work the snack shack, so they make the students do it..._ Nancy thought. She sighed and then breezed through the rest of the website. The other pages were mostly boring or under construction.

_Well, if I can't email him, guess I'd better call Dad_, Nancy thought. She got up and left the computer. On her way out of the library, she saw a sign on the desk which read "Corine Meyers: Student Librarian". Nancy made a note of this in the journal, then stepped outside and called her dad's cell phone.

"Nancy?" Carson Drew answered on the second ring.

"Hi, Dad," Nancy said. "I'm calling to say that I arrived at New York okay. I dropped off my stuff in my room, and now I'm going around the dorm, meeting everyone."

"That's good to hear," Carson said. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you're at Waverly Academy. This way, you won't miss any school while you're solving a mystery out-of-state. Maybe those valedictorian girls will be a good influence on you, and they'll convince you to spend more time studying and less time solving mysteries."

"I prefer to let my track record speak for itself," Nancy said.

"Yes, and your records stink," Carson Drew said. "You barely passed biology class, as I recall."

"Dad! I meant my record as an international supersleuth!" Nancy said. "Besides, biology is totally useless in the real world!"

"Oh, yeah?" Carson said. "What if, I dunno, someone asks for your help with a DNA model? You wouldn't know what to do!"

"...Okay, you win," Nancy said. "I'll try to study harder when I'm here. Especially since I have to keep up with all the other valedictorians."

Carson chuckled. "That's my girl," he said. "Stay safe, okay?"

"Will do," Nancy said. "Goodbye."


	15. Meeting Rachel

Nancy wasn't sure what to do next, so she decided to check her journal.

**The To-Do List**

1. Meet Rachel and learn about the web project she's working on.  
>2. Call Megan Vargas and learn more about how the Black Cat attacked her.<br>3. Meet Izzy's roommate, Leela Yadav.  
>4. Work at the Snack Shack.<br>5. Since my roommate is the student librarian, see if she can get me into the locked Special Collections cabinet, so I can look at the Moore book that was referenced in the sampler in the corner of Mel's room.

_The last item on the task list is kind of long..._ Nancy noted. _Well, better get started! Corine said Rachel is in the room at the end of the hall._

Nancy went back upstairs and down the hall. There were three rooms here. One belonged to Paige Griffen, the angry floor monitor who looked suspiciously like Nancy's friend George Fayne. Another belonged to Izzy Romero and her roommate, Leela Yadav. The final room belonged to Rachel_._

Nancy knocked on Rachel's door.

"You can come in," a girl's voice said. Nancy opened the door and entered. Inside, a girl in a scarlet suitcoat was working on her computer, while sitting on her bed.

"You must be Becca Sawyer," the girl said. "Did you get my note?"

"I did if you're Rachel Hubbard," Nancy said.

"That's me!" Rachel said. "And boy, am I glad you're here. See, I have this web design project I have to get finished by the end of the week, but I have two papers I need to get done by then, too. Because you're new here, and you don't have any assignments yet, I thought maybe you could help me."

"Well...sure, I can _help,_" Nancy said, emphasizing the word "help". She wasn't planning on doing Rachel's homework for her.

"Great," Rachel said. "The webpages I'm designing are going to be part on the school website."

"Yeah, I noticed some of the pages are under construction," Nancy said. "Your project is to fix them?"

"Exactly," Rachel said. "I figure that since you're a valedictorian, you can help with the valedictorian page. I'll take care of all the other ones."

"Right," Nancy said. That made some sense. "So what is it I need to do, exactly?"

"It's really simple," Rachel said, taking out a blue piece of paper. "I need you to get pictures of all the valedictorian candidates, then upload them to the school website. Here's a list of everyone."

Nancy picked up the piece of paper, which was basically a list of names. "Well, I need to meet everyone anyway, so I might as well get their pictures," she said.

"Fab," Rachel said, closing her computer. "I _really_ appreciate this, Becca. In the meantime, I'm running late for a meeting with my faculty advisor, so if you'll excuse me?"

"Oh, sure," Nancy said. She left the room with Rachel.


	16. Paige's Picture

**Author's Note: **A minor explanation is in order. In _Waverly Academy_, the only time Paige appears onscreen, she has a flashlight in her hand. The glare from the flashlight makes it impossible to see her face; all you see is a dark outline where her body is.

Some people have played around with the brightness and lighting effects on a picture of Paige, to show what she looks like. And she's the same as George, from _Ransom of the Seven Ships_. Her Interactive just reused George's character model and disguised it with the flashlight effect.

So that's why Nancy thinks Paige looks like George. She does.

* * *

><p>Nancy now had a job to do: get pictures of all the valedictorian candidates. That would be the perfect cover for secretly investigating them.<p>

_One of these girls is sabotaging the others..._ Nancy thought. _One girl was sent to the hospital, and one girl was sent to the psych ward. I have to stop the Black Cat before anyone else gets...scratched out._

Nancy immediately turned to the right and knocked on the door of the floor monitor, Paige Griffen.

"Go away, please," Paige said angrily.

"Hey, Paige! It's me, Becca!" Nancy said.

"I don't want to talk right now," Paige said angrily.

"That's great," Nancy said. "Look, can I come in?"

"Leave me alone," Paige said angrily.

"See, I kinda need to take your picture, and—"

The door to Paige's room opened, and Paige stepped out. "Can't you take a hint?" she asked. "Leave me alone!"

"Oh, wow!" Nancy said. In this lighting, Nancy could see Paige's face perfectly. She looked just like Nancy's friend, George Fayne, only with longer hair.

"Bother me again, and you'll get demerits!" Paige said.

"Okay, say CHEESE!" Nancy said. She took out her cell phone and took a picture of Paige.

"Augh!" Paige said.

"Great!" Nancy said. "That's all I need from you right now. Say, do you know a George—"

***Slam*** went Paige's door.

"Hmmph," Nancy said. "_That _was kind of rude."

Nancy sent the picture to George's cell phone, adding the words _This is Paige, the floor monitor at Waverly. Look familiar?_


	17. Getting the Key from Corine

Nancy went back to her room to drop off the piece of paper that Rachel gave her. Corine was still inside the room, working on her English essay.

"Hey," Nancy said.

"Hey, Roomy," Corine said. "How come I couldn't find anything about you online, like on Facebook?"

"You...looked me up online?" Nancy said.

"Well, sure," Corine said. "It's the 21st century. Once you meet someone, the first thing you do is look them up online. Anyone who doesn't have a Facebook account has either a) been living on Mars, or b) is _seriously_ weird. And since it doesn't look like either of those applies to you, what gives?"

"Oh, um..." Nancy said. Once again, she was in a tricky situation where her cover might be blown. It was time to turn things around with another trademark Becca Sawyer sassy comment!

"Facebook? More like _waste-book!_" Nancy said. "I mean, it's not even a book, am I right?"

"Uh..." Corine said.

"Look, I just flew in today from France," Nancy said. "Over there, they call Facebook...um...Fâcéboòk. Once my laptop comes in, I'll set up an account on the US version."

"That makes sense," Corine said, nodding.

"Actually..." Nancy said, getting an idea. She took out the blue piece of paper from Rachel and gave it to Corine. "Do all these girls have Facebook accounts?"

Corine read the list. "I think so," she said. "I sent friend requests to most of them."

"Great," Nancy said. "I need pictures of all of them for Rachel's project. Can you get their profile pics for me?"

"Sorry," Corine said. "None of them have added me yet. It's probably because they're really busy with studying."

_Uh...sure...that's why no one has friended you on Facebook,_ Nancy thought. _They're "busy"._

"Then I guess I'll have to take pictures of them with my phone," Nancy said, taking out her cell phone. "I'll start with you, okay? Smile!"

Corine smiled for the camera, and put her arm out in a pose. Nancy took the picture.

"Perfect," Nancy said. "Just one more thing. I noticed you're the assistant librarian here. Any chance you could help me get a book from the Special Collections cabinet?"

"Sure, I have the key right here," Corine said. "How bad do you want it?"

"Uh...pretty bad," Nancy said. "I _really_ need that key."

"Okay, tell you what," Corine said. "You finish some orthographic views for me, and I'll give you the key."

"Ortho-_what?_" Nancy asked.

Corine handed Nancy a folder. "Orthographic views," she said. "You need to match the different perspectives to the different pictures. There's a sample page in there for you to get started."

Nancy looked at the pages. They looked like a three-dimensional puzzle.

"Ah, come on, you're making me do your _homework?_" Nancy said. "Can't you just give me the key? We're roommates! We're supposed to be friends!"

"No orthographic views, no key," Corine said, smiling sadistically. "I'm the only librarian on campus this week, so you don't have a choice."

"If you give me the key right now, I'll friend you on Facebook..." Nancy said.

Corine quickly ripped the folder out of Nancy's hands and replaced it with a key.

"Here you go, Roomy!" Corine said.

Nancy smiled.


	18. Calling Megan Vargas

Nancy left her room, and she pulled out her cell phone. It was time to call Megan Vargas, the girl who was sent home after being poisoned by the Black Cat.

"Hello?" a girl answered the phone.

"Hello, is this Megan Vargas?" Nancy asked.

"Yes, this is she," Megan said. "Who is this?"

"This is Becca Sawyer," Nancy said. "I just moved into the valedictorian hall here at Waverly Academy. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

Megan gasped loudly. "Are you...are you an undercover detective who was sent to investigate the Black Cat?" she asked.

"What? How did you—I mean, no!" Nancy said.

"Don't lie!" Megan said. "Your _real _name is Nancy Drew, isn't it?"

Nancy's jaw dropped. She could practically _feel_ her title of "world's best female teenage detective" slip away. "How did you know that?" Nancy asked. "I haven't said more than five sentences to you!"

"Caller ID," Megan said. "It says you're calling from Nancy Drew's cellphone."

"...Oh," Nancy said.

"Don't worry," Megan said. "I won't blow your cover. What do you want to know?"

"I need to know who, how and _why_ you were poisoned," Nancy said.

"I can tell you how," Megan said. "I have a really bad peanut allergy. Whenever I eat one, I end up in the hospital. It's happened a couple of times before, so I'm usually really careful about what I eat. As far as I can figure, either someone in the kitchens messed up, or someone purposely slipped peanuts in my food when I wasn't looking."

"Someone like...the Black Cat," Nancy said, taking a dramatic pause in the middle of her sentence to make the conversation more exciting.

"Yes, I got a second Black Cat note the day I was poisoned," Megan said. "It said _Say goodbye! _on it. I didn't think someone would actually poison me to get rid of me."

"Who knew about your peanut allergy?" Nancy asked.

"Everyone did," Megan said. "For health reasons, everyone in school was informed about it. And everyone has access to the school cafeteria. There's no way to narrow down the field of suspects."

"Who do _you_ think it was?" Nancy asked.

"Honestly, I thought it was Danielle Hayes," Megan said. "But I heard she was attacked by the Black Cat last week."

"She's still in the psych ward," Nancy said. "Her parents are thinking of suing the school. That's why the headmistress asked me to investigate."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't be of more help," Megan said. "But I've been wracking my brains, trying to figure out who the culprit could be. The sooner I figure out who it is, the sooner I'll be able to return to Waverly."

_Great, even the valedictorian can't figure it out,_ Nancy thought. Her chances of solving this mystery were looking slim.

"Don't give up hope yet," Nancy said. "I've got a lot of experience solving mysteries. Once I finish meeting everyone, I'll review the suspect list and see if anything jumps out at me."

"Let me know if you have any big leads," Megan said. "I've been living with these girls for over three years, so I know a lot about them."

"I'll keep that in mind," Nancy said. "Thanks for the help, Megan."

"See you," Megan said. "Good luck with the mystery!"


	19. Meeting Leela

_I'm nineteen chapters into this story, and I still haven't met all of the main characters yet?_ Nancy wondered. _Boy, this author needs to start moving the plot forward, pronto!_

Eager to get the story going, Nancy sprinted downstairs and went to the lounge area, where she met the final character of the game: Leela Yadav. Leela was busy playing with a soccer ball, next to an air hockey table.

"You must be the girl who moved here from France, with just the clothes on her back," Leela said. "Becca something."

"Becca Sawyer," Nancy said. "You must be Leela, the sports superstar."

"That me!" Leela said in a friendly voice. "Welcome to Waverly!"

"Thanks!" Nancy said. "How come you're not working on papers or studying like everyone else here?"

"I'm working on _two_ papers, actually," Leela said. "But they're both under control, so I'm taking a break."

"I hear you," Nancy said. "I need a break myself. I've been working really hard on my investigation, and—"

Leela looked confused. "Investigation?" she asked.

_Uh oh_, Nancy thought. Once again, she had forgotten that she was working undercover, so she accidentally slipped up. Time to go back into Becca Sawyer mode.

"Is that the wrong word?" Nancy asked. "Sorry, it's been a while since I last spoke English. Rachel asked me to find these girls and get their pictures. In French, we call that _investigation_. What's the English word?"

Nancy pulled out the list of valedictorian candidates and handed it to Leela.

"I think the word you're looking for is _exploration_," Leela said. "But no big deal. The two words are close enough, and your English sounds fine to me."

"Thanks," Nancy said. "I grew up as a kid in the United States before we moved to France."

"So..." Leela said, reading the paper. "Rachel's making you work for her? That's too bad."

"Why is it too bad?" Nancy asked.

"Rachel's got this bizarre schizoid thing going," Leela said. "She'll say something one minute, then deny it the next. Or she'll forget something you told her five minutes ago. It's weird. You'll see. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if _she's_ the Black Cat. You heard about the Black Cat, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I heard," Nancy said. "So Rachel's odd behavior puts her at the top of your suspect list, huh?"

"Suspect list?" Leela asked.

"Uh, I mean, to-do list!" Nancy said. "Sorry, I used the wrong word again."

"Oh, yeah, you're right!" Leela said. She pulled out her to-do list, and made a big check mark next to the top item, which was _Provide foreshadowing for Rachel's plotline._ Nancy was pleased to see that Leela also checked off the second item, which was _Make friends with the sassy new French student._


	20. Air Hockey

Leela handed the list of names back to Nancy. "It looks like you need my picture," she said.

"Yeah," Nancy said, taking out her cell phone. "Can I get one now?"

"Of course," Leela said. "_If_ you beat me at a game of air hockey, that is."

"Air hockey?" Nancy asked.

"Playing the games in here keeps my reflexes sharp," Leela said. "People think I'm just saying that, but it's true. So come on, let's play!"

"Sure!" Nancy said. "Becca Sawyer never backs down from a challenge!"

The friendly game of air hockey started out well enough. Leela hit the puck towards Nancy. Nancy tried to hit the puck with her mallet, but she accidentally let go of the mallet, and it slid to the other side of the table.

While Nancy went to retrieve it, the puck slowly slid into the goal.

On the next turn, Nancy hit the puck in the wrong direction and scored on her own net. Same with the next two turns. Leela scored on the next two shots.

"I don't like this game!" Nancy said.

"Try to block my shots," Leela suggested.

"That's what I'm _trying_ to do!" Nancy said, hitting the puck into her own goal again. "ARGH! Stupid thing!"

"Relax. It's just a game," Leela said.

"Game? More like _lame!_" Nancy said. "This is why we don't have air hockey in France! Take...that!"

Nancy tried to smash the puck with her mallet. She lost her grip, and both the puck and mallet went flying. The mallet flew through the air, right at Leela's head. Leela ducked in order to avoid it. The puck, of course, flew right into Nancy's goal.

"Stupid [bad word] game!" Nancy shouted. "I [bad word] hate it!"

"Becca, chill out!" Leela said.

"Whoops," Nancy said. "Pardon my French. Heh heh..."

"Let's...let's not play any more air hockey for a while, okay?" Leela said. "You can take my picture now, if you want."

"Great," Nancy said. She pulled out her cell phone and took a picture of Leela. "Thanks."

Nancy put her phone away. "Sorry to run out on you," Nancy said, "but I should get this picture uploaded now."

"That's okay. I'm kind of waiting for my boyfriend to call," Leela said. "He goes to Oxborough, the boys school down the road. Talking to you helped kill the time. I'll see ya!"

Nancy waved goodbye, then walked to the library. When she reached her destination, she got another text message that was sent out to all the students.

_Confirmed. New girl Becca S. is totally a spaz. She threw a fit in the downstairs lounge just now when she lost a game._

"Wow, this Becca S. girl sounds crazy!" Nancy said. "I must have just missed her at the lounge just now. Too bad."


	21. The Book of Four

"Okay," Nancy said. "I've met everyone who lives in the dorm here. Let's see if I can solve the mystery now."

Nancy pulled out her notebook, and read the crime dossier.

**Waverly Academy—Sabotage**

One of the valedictorian candidates at Waverly Academy is attacking the other candidates. She is disguising her identity under the name of "The Black Cat", and she sends notes before attacking her victims. Two girls have been sent home so far.

**Possible Motives**

1. The Black Cat is hoping to find Dirk Valentine's long-lost treasure, by following the clues left at Shadow Ranch.  
>2. She wants Bruno Bolet's crystal skull, because she thinks it will help her live forever.<br>3. She wants to improve her reputation, so she's taking the last train to Blue Moon Canyon so she can find letters written by Abraham Lincoln.  
>4. She wants to find Marie Antoinette's treasure in the royal tower, so she can sell it.<br>5. She's not _really_ haunting Castle Malloy; she is just very, very confused right now. Also, she has a jetpack.

Some of those motives sounded oddly familiar to Nancy, but she shrugged it off. The Black Cat was looking for revenge or a hidden treasure. That was the important thing. The other important things were listed on...

**The To-Do List**

1. Work at the Snack Shack  
>2. Get pictures of all the valedictorian candidates (only Corine and Leela so far)<br>3. Read The Book of Four

"I should probably start working on the last two items," Nancy said. "You know, because I'm at the library and all."

Nancy opened the door to the library and ran inside. She pulled out her cell phone, then ran to the cubicle that Izzy Romero was working at.

"Izzy, say cheese!" Nancy said.

Izzy turned to look at Nancy. "What are you—?" she began to say.

*CLICK* went Nancy's cell phone.

"Awesome, thanks!" Nancy said, running away from Izzy and going to the Special Collections Cabinet.

"Weirdo!" Izzy shouted. Nancy paused for a moment, to wonder who Izzy could possibly be talking to, then shrugged. She opened the Special Collections Cabinet with the key from Corine, she picked up The Book of Four and read it.

Okay, well, Nancy didn't _really_ read the book. She just flipped open to the two pages with pictures on them. One was a picture of all four of Waverly's founders, by the cornerstone of the building.

...And that was basically the only interesting thing Nancy could find in the book.

"I went through all that trouble, just to see an old picture?" Nancy asked. "What a rip-off!"


	22. The Cornerstone

Nancy's phone beeped, with a text message that said _Goth girl gets 2nd bc'd._

"The goth girl got a second Black Cat note?" Nancy asked. "I'm guessing that's Mel, the girl with unhelpful ancestors."

Nancy just went through all the trouble of following the trail of clues left by Mel's great-great grandmother. The trail led to a picture of all four of Waverly Academy's founders, standing by a cornerstone plaque.

Nancy sighed. "It's not much of a lead, but I guess I'll follow it," Nancy said. She left the library and the building, going to the cornerstone. As you might expect, this stone was on the corner of Ramsey Hall. The cornerstone was basically a plaque which had the date of Waverly's founding, along with the names of the founders.

"Hey, this thing is kind of cool," Nancy said, tapping it.

Suddenly, one of the cornerstone pieces fell off.

"Augh!" Nancy said. She picked up the fallen piece and tried to jam it into place, but that only caused another piece to fall off.

"AUGH!" Nancy cried. "I gotta fix this, before I get suspended!"

Nancy scrambled with the four fallen pieces of the plaque, trying to jam them together in the square-shaped hole. Eventually, she got it right.

"Hooray!" Nancy said.

The amazing technology built into the plaque from 1866 registered the fact that someone put the four pieces into place, for the first time in over a hundred years. This caused the front of the cornerstone to slowly slide down, revealing a hidden treasure inside.

"Double hooray!" Nancy said.

Then, a white squirrel appeared and jumped into the cornerstone. It picked up a shiny gold thing, then ran off.

"Not hooray!" Nancy said. "You get back here, you crazy squirrel!"

It was too late, however. The squirrel took the shiny gold thing up to its nest at the very top of the large oak tree.

"That evil, evil squirrel!" Nancy said. "I bet _he's_ the Black Cat!"

Nancy reached into the still-open cornerstone and pulled out the only thing left inside: an old journal. It reminded Nancy of Trapper Dan's journal from White Wolf of Icicle Creek, or Josiah Crowley's journal from Secret of the Old Clock, or even Bruno Bolet's journal from Legend of the Crystal Skull.

"Why do I find so many journals?" Nancy wondered. Either way, she knew what to do by now. Just follow all the clues in the journal, until she found the hidden treasure. No problem.

_Rita Hallowell_ was written on the cover of the journal. Rita was one of the founders of Waverly Academy. She was the one who worked as a nurse for Edgar Allen Poe, shortly before he died. She was also the one who was rumored to have gone crazy, which led to the story of the Black Cat that Izzy told in Chapter Thirteen.

"Okay, let's hope that Rita was really a smart person, not a crazy person," Nancy said, opening the journal. "Otherwise, this journal will be almost impossible to decode."

The first page of the journal talked about how to calm Rita's cat down, by playing the music on the lamps. The second page had something to do with a raven (or was it a crow?). The third page talked about a celebratory dinner, made up of nine courses, eaten with perfect etiquette. The final page said something about a group to protect the treasure behind the Dupin gate. This came with a picture of Other Poe Stories.

"...Yep, she went crazy," Nancy said. "Oh, boy. Lucky me."


	23. Ned Calls

Our hero Nancy just found Rita Hallowell's journal, which was filled with obscure clues on how to find some kind of treasure. Nancy had no idea _what_ the treasure was, but hopefully it would be worth the effort.

"I have a feeling that finding this is going to be difficult," Nancy said. "But it's a lucky thing no one besides me has solved the cornerstone puzzle in the past 150 years! That means I'm the only one who knows about the existence of this journal!"

Nancy headed back inside the school, when her cell phone rang. Caller ID said it was her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. Nancy decided to take the call.

"Ned, hi!" Nancy said.

"Hey, Nance," Ned said. "I hadn't heard from you in a while, so I thought I'd call. Did you get to New York okay?"

"Yeah, the flight was fine," Nancy said. "I arrived here at Waverly Academy about an hour ago, and since then, I've just been exploring the area and meeting everyone."

"So how's the case going?" Ned asked.

"Great!" Nancy said. "All the girls here seem really smart, and they all like me! Becca Sawyer is going to be the most popular girl in school!"

"Becca Sawyer?" Ned asked. "Who's Becca—oh, right, that's the fake name you're using."

"Fake name?" Nancy asked. "Becca is _more_ than just a fake name! She has her own personality and backstory! She's spent the last seven years in France, where she lived in a _moulin_, learned martial arts and fought villains in masks!"

"Uh..."

"I even darkened my hair so it looks more like Minette's," Nancy said, referring to her adventures in Paris. "Now it's more vibrant than ever! Becca's hair is so good that Heather McKay offered her a modeling job!"

"Nancy, are you sure you're not taking this undercover thing a little too far?" Ned asked. "I mean, whenever you're acting, you have a tendency to go...overboard."

"What?" Nancy said. "I do _not!_"

"Remember when you were in that Shakespeare play last semester?" Ned asked. "For five weeks, you spoke nothing but Victorian English. I had no idea what you were saying half the time."

"I was getting into character!" Nancy said.

"It still made our dates kind of awkward," Ned said. "So just...don't worry too much about your cover persona. Try to focus on the mystery."

"I'll be fine, Ned," Nancy said. "But it's really sweet of you to be worried about me."

"Worrying about you is what I do best," Ned said. "Speaking of, you're not in any danger from this saboteur, are you?"

"Nope," Nancy said. "She only attacks valedictorian students, and I'm not a valedictorian because I just transferred here. So I should be totally safe for once."

"Good," Ned said, in a relieved voice.

"Yeah, the most dangerous thing I've done so far is play air hockey," Nancy said. "This mystery is going to be a walk in the park."


	24. Perfect Etiquette

Rita Hallowell's journal contained obscure clues for about six different puzzles. Poor Nancy Drew was completely confused, and she didn't understand any of the clues at all. To be honest, Nancy was still kind of stuck on the fact that Rita bought an entire journal, just to write on three pages of it.

Fortunately, Nancy didn't need to understand the clues, because her to-do list interpreted most of them for her. Rita wrote something about silverware for a nine-course dinner, and the to-do list translated it as "learn more about what people considered to be perfect etiquette in Rita Hallowell's day (the Victorian Age)".

So Nancy went to the school library and asked Izzy Romero for help.

"Hey, Izzy!" Nancy said. "Do you know what people considered to be perfect etiquette in Rita Hallowell's day (the Victorian Age)?"

Izzy Romero was not impressed by Nancy's ability to use parentheses while speaking. "They thought it was rude to interrupt people while they're studying," she said.

"Thanks!" Nancy said. She slapped Izzy on the back, then walked off, checking that off her to-do list.

Unfortunately, the item refused to be checked off the list. "Darn," Nancy said.

Nancy was near the school computer, so she logged on and started a search on the library catalog. She searched for "please tell me the solution to this puzzle, so I don't actually have to figure it out myself".

Since Nancy used the word "the", one of the search results was _Formal Victorian Dining: The Right Spoon for the Menu_.

"Yes!" Nancy said. She was ready to check out the book from the library—even though she didn't have a library card—when she noticed the book had already been checked out by Rachel K. Hubbard.

So Nancy went to Rachel's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rachel said.

Nancy opened the door and walked in. Rachel looked up from her computer, and a confused look came over her face. Rachel arched her eyebrows and tilted her head slightly as she stared at Nancy.

"Hi..." Rachel said. After a pause, she added, "Who...who are you?"

"I'm Becca Sawyer, remember?" Nancy said. "The new French exchange student."

"Oh...oh, right!" Rachel said. Her face went back to normal. "Sorry, I totally blanked on your name!"

_Leela was right,_ Nancy realized. _Rachel does have a bizarre memory problem._


	25. Victorian Stuff

Nancy was in Rachel Hubbard's room. It looked like Rachel had a suitcoat _and_ a faulty memory.

"So, Becca, you get all the pictures uploaded yet?" Rachel asked.

"Not yet," Nancy said. "For one thing, I still need a picture of you."

"That's okay," Rachel said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I already have a picture of myself that I can use."

"You...you do?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, didn't I mention it earlier?" Rachel said.

"No..." Nancy said.

"Huh, weird," Rachel said. She tucked her hair behind her ear again. "Look, I can't remember, did I tell you not to bother with Danielle Hayes' picture?"

"No, but her name's been scratched off the list, so I figured that's what you meant," Nancy said.

"Fab," Rachel said. "Listen, be sure to let me know when you get them all uploaded, okay? I want to move on to the next phase of the project."

_In that case, you should get the pictures yourself,_ Nancy thought grumpily. But of course, she didn't say that out loud. Antagonizing Rachel wasn't a good idea right now, because Nancy needed something from her.

"So..." Nancy said. "Did I mention I'm a big fan of Victorian stuff?"

"You are?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, Victor's a great guy, and I love all his stuff," Nancy said. "But what I'd _really_ like is a book on Victorian dining. His eating habits are fascinating to me."

"Oh," Rachel said. She looked confused again. "Well, I just got a book on Victorian dining from the school library. I'd let you borrow it, but I need it for this paper I'm working on."

"Can't you switch projects for a while?" Nancy asked. "I _really_ want to read that book."

"Okay, tell you what," Rachel said. "I'm about two pages away from finishing the paper on the Victorian stuff, then I'm going to start on my math homework. Only...I gave my math notebook to Mel two days ago, and she still hasn't given it back yet. So, if you can go get my math notebook from Mel, then come back in, I dunno, ten minutes, I can get the Victorian book for you."

Nancy scratched her head. "I'm confused," she said. "What does Mel have to do with anything? Can't I just wait ten minutes for you to finish with the Victorian paper?"

Rachel looked bashful. "Please, Becca," she said. "I know Mel's just down the hall, but...I _really_ don't want to deal with her right now."

"Um...okay..." Nancy said. Rachel didn't like Mel? That was new information.

"I guess I can get the math notebook from her," Nancy said.

"Fab," Rachel said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Thanks, Becca. See you later, 'kay?"

"Oh, one more thing first," Nancy said. "Who do you think the Black Cat is?"

Rachel didn't look up from her computer. "I haven't gotten any notes, so I don't know, and I don't really care," she said simply. "See ya."


	26. Getting Mel's Picture

Nancy knocked on Mel's door.

"C'mon in," Mel called.

Nancy walked inside and flinched slightly when she saw all the pink in Mel's room. As usual, Mel was playing the cello instead of studying.

"Becca the new girl, what's going on?" Mel asked.

"Not much," Nancy said. "I was just talking to Rachel and she's...interesting. How well do you know her?"

"Not well," Mel said. "We don't hang out."

"How come?" Nancy asked.

"We have nothing in common," Mel said. "Plus, there's something about her that's a little...off."

"Yeah," Nancy said. "When I talked to her just now, she acted like she had never seen me before. It was weird."

"She's always been a little strange," Mel said. "I'm surprised her forgetfulness hasn't impacted her grades. In fact, when it comes to being valedictorian, it's a mystery how she ever made it this far."

"Mystery?" Nancy asked. "I love mysteries! I've always dreamed about being a detective!"

"That's cool," Mel said. "Maybe you can start by solving the mystery of the Black Cat. Although that's not really a mystery, 'cause it's so obvious it's Izzy."

"Ah, yes, Izzy," Nancy said, rubbing her chin in what she hoped was a detective-like fashion. "Does anyone else think she's the culprit?"

"Megan, my missing roommate?" Mel said. "She thinks it's Izzy, too, although that's because she hates Izzy for stealing her boyfriend."

"Izzy's a boyfriend-stealer?" Nancy gasped. "WHAT? How did _she_ become the most popular girl in school?"

"Beats me," Mel said. "I don't really follow the whole popularity scene."

"Ah, but soon, Becca Sawyer is going to catch the Black Cat, and then _I'll_ be the most popular girl in school!" Nancy said. "Everyone will be like, 'Izzy Romero? More like _Frizzy_ Romero!' 'Cause my hair is way awesomer than hers!"

"Uh...sure, Becca," Mel said. "Whatever you say. You know you're starting to sound like your roommate, right?"

"Huh?" Nancy asked. "I sound like Corine?"

"Yeah, you sound like you're obsessed with being popular and fitting in," Mel said. "I know it's your first day here, but just relax. It's not like making friends is a race or anything."

"Uh...right," Nancy said. Her plane back home to River Heights left when the winter study break ended, but nobody else knew that. "Anyway, I came here because I need to take your picture. It's for a page on the school website that I'm helping with."

"The school wants _my_ picture on its website?" Mel asked. "Groovy. Blast away."

Nancy took out her cell phone, then took a picture of Mel smiling. "Perfect," Nancy said. "I need a photo of your roommate, too. Do you have one?"

"Sure don't," Mel said. "But Leela Yadav might. She and Megan have been palling around a lot downstairs lately. Try checking the rec room."


	27. Rachel's Math Notebook

There was only one more thing that Nancy had to talk to Mel Corbalis about.

"I need to get Rachel's math notebook from you," Nancy said.

"Sure," Mel said. "Soon as I remember where I put it." Mel thought for a moment. "Nuts, I left it in the library."

"That's okay," Nancy said. "I can go get it."

"Why do _you_ want _her_ math notebook?" Mel asked. "You haven't even started taking classes yet."

"Well...actually...um..." Nancy said, trying to think of a good excuse.

"I...like collecting notebooks?" Nancy guessed.

Mel used her valedictorian-worthy brains to come up with an explanation. "Rachel sent you to get it for her, because she didn't want to talk to me in person," Mel said.

"You're right," Nancy said. "Is she mad at you or something?"

"I don't treat her any differently than I treat anybody else here," Mel said. "In other words, for the most part, I totally ignore her. I don't know _what_ her problem is."

"Maybe she's allergic to cellos," Nancy said.

"I don't think so," Mel said.

"Well, I can ask her when I give her back her notebook," Nancy said. "See ya!"

Nancy waved goodbye to Mel and returned to the school library. The library was rather big, and Nancy had no idea where exactly Rachel's notebook was.

"I'll look it up in the library catalog!" Nancy said. She went to the computer and searched for "Rachel's math notebook", but no results came up.

"Aw..." Nancy said.

Nancy wandered around the library for a while, until she eventually found the lost and found drawer. The drawer was locked with a four digit combination lock. On the bottom of the drawer were some Roman numerals.

"Let's see...that's 2-6-4-1," Nancy said, reading the number. "That _can't_ be the combination to the lock, though, right? No one would be stupid enough to write the combination two inches below the lock. That's the least secure lock system ever."

Nancy tried out the combination 2-6-4-1, and it worked. Inside the drawer were some lawn gnomes and Rachel's math notebook.

"No way," Nancy said. "If only all my mysteries were this easy to solve."

Prize in hand, Nancy went upstairs to Rachel's room and knocked on the door.

"You can come in," Rachel said.

Nancy went inside. As usual, Rachel was on her bed, typing on a computer.

"You've got my math notebook," Rachel said. "Fab. I'll take that."

Nancy gave the notebook to Rachel. "Mel left it in the library," she said. "What do you have against Mel, anyway?"

"Huh?" Rachel asked. "Nothing. Mel's the closest friend I have here."

"But...earlier, you said didn't want to deal with her," Nancy said.

"Oh, no, I said I was too _busy_ to deal with her," Rachel said. "Leaving my room and going down the hall is a major hassle, you know? Anyway, here's the Victorian book."

Rachel thrust the book in Nancy's hands.

"I gotta get back to studying," Rachel said. "See you."

Nancy left the room, suspicious that Rachel had just given her the brush-off. What could Rachel be hiding? Were Rachel and Mel secret best friends or something?


	28. Getting the Menu

Nancy flipped through the book on Victorian dining. It had a section on the various types of silverware.

_Didn't I see a display case here with a bunch of forks and knives?_ Nancy thought as she flipped a few pages. A student ID belonging to an Amber Sullivan fell out of the book. Nancy pocketed the ID card as she headed downstairs, looking for the display case.

The display case was near the doors to the library. It was locked, and half of the display was missing. A sign which read "checked out to L. Yadav" was in the place of the missing display.

So Nancy returned to the rec room, where Leela Yadav was busy playing with a soccer ball. "Hey!" Nancy said.

"Becca, hi," Leela said. "What's up?"

"Not much," Nancy said. "I'm just wandering around, getting a sense of where everything is."

"That's cool," Leela said. "Have you checked out any of the other buildings on campus?"

"Not really," Nancy said. "I tried to leave Ramsey Hall earlier, but when I got too far away, I ended up running into an invisible wall. It was kind of weird. So I decided to go back here and check out the display cases instead. I notice you took something from one of them?"

Poor Leela looked a little confused at Nancy's invisible wall comment, but she eventually shrugged. "Yeah, I borrowed an old menu," Leela said. "I needed it for this lame nutrition paper I had to write. I keep forgetting to put it back."

"Can I see it?" Nancy asked.

"Sure," Leela said. "As a matter of fact, I've got it right here. But before I give it to you, you have to beat me at a game."

"What, again?" Nancy asked.

Leela nodded. "What'll it be, air hockey or scram?"

Nancy wasn't sure what scram was. "Scram" was the word she usually used whenever someone tried to force her to do chores for them, but it didn't seem appropriate in this situation. So she picked air hockey.

Leela got the first shot. Nancy tried to hit the puck, but she missed it entirely, and the puck went in. On the next shot, Nancy missed the puck again. The puck bounced off the boards and back to Leela's side of the table. Leela shot it in Nancy's goal.

"Two nothing," Leela said. She took another shot, and this time, Nancy managed to hit the puck with her mallet.

"Yay, I hit the puck!" Nancy said.

Then the puck bounced right off Nancy's mallet and into her own goal.

"Darn!" Nancy said.

Leela decided to give Nancy the next shot. Nancy hit the puck into the corner of the board, where it stopped. Nancy jammed her mallet next to the puck, making sure it couldn't get loose.

"Oh no, it's stuck!" she said. "Well, looks like we can't play any more! What a shame!"

"It's not stuck," Leela said. "You can pick it up and—"

"_Looks like we can't play any more,"_ Nancy repeated, growling.

"Uh...sure," Leela said. "Let's...call it a tie, then. Here's that menu you wanted."

Leela gave Nancy the menu.

"Great, thanks," Nancy said.


	29. The Safety Hazard Supply Closet

"So, Izzy's your roommate," Nancy said. "How's that working out for you?"

"It's fine," Leela said. "She's not the person I would have picked as my roommate, but since all the valedictorian candidates live in the same hall, that's how the room assignments worked out."

"Who would you have picked?" Nancy asked.

"One of my friends from the soccer team," Leela said. "Izzy doesn't like sports. I have no idea why."

_She probably likes sports just fine; she just doesn't like them as much as you do, Miss "Let's Play Air Hockey",_ Nancy thought.

"Would you say you know her pretty well?" Nancy asked.

"I know enough," Leela said. "I mean, she's smart, she's pretty, she's popular, she's always got a boyfriend. That's Izzy. What more is there to know?"

"Well, according to Megan Vargas—hey, wait," Nancy said. "I need to get a picture of Megan Vargas. I was told that maybe you had one?"

"Sure, I have it in my room," Leela said. "And I'll give it to you if you beat me at a game of air hockey."

Nancy dropped her notebook. "Seriously?" she asked. "You want to play air hockey _again?_ It's not even that fun!"

"You'll enjoy it more than you think," Leela said. "Come on, I'll even give you the first shot!"

Nancy sighed. On the first shot, she wound up her arm and hit the puck as hard as she could. It went flying all the way across the room and into the supply closet.

"Darn!" Nancy said. She ran into the supply closet to get the puck, only she tripped on it and smashed into the back shelf. Packs of chips went flying everywhere, juice spilled all over the floor, and a key somehow got stuck on Nancy's earring.

"OWWWW!" Nancy said.

"Becca, are you okay?" Leela asked. "I forgot to mention, there's a trick to the closet. You can't see anything inside, unless the light switch is on."

"It's a little late for that!" Nancy said angrily. "Besides, I don't see _any_ light switch here!"

"The switch is on the outside," Leela said. "That's how the Black Cat was able to lock Danielle Hayes in the closet, then turn off the lights."

"Ugh," Nancy said, stumbling out of the Safety Hazard Supply Closet. You'd think the school would have at least done _something_ to warn people about the closet, after what happened to Danielle.

"Sorry about that," Leela said. "Did you get the puck?"

"Yes, I got the puck," Nancy said, removing the key from her ear and putting it in her pocket. "This time, _you_ take the first shot."

Two minutes later, Leela won the game of air hockey, scoring seven goals in ten shots. Nancy didn't have any shots at all.

"I win!" Leela said. "You have to beat me in order to get the photo, though. Try again!"

"No, _I_ won!" Nancy said. "After I got the puck, we switched mallets. That means you just scored on yourself seven times!"

"That's not how it—" Leela began to say.

"And now you'll get that picture of Megan for me!" Nancy said. "Gee, thanks! You're a friend!"

Nancy ran away before Leela could object.


	30. The Victorian Dining Puzzle

Nancy was now ready and prepared to solve the Victorian dining puzzle, no matter how long it took. She had a menu with ten different items on it. According to the placard in the display case, it was the menu used in a traditional Waverly Academy nine course celebratory dinner.

"Crackers? Baloney sandwiches? Consommé?" Nancy asked. "Wow, this is one fancy dinner."

Nancy also had the Victorian Dining book, which listed the eight types of knives, eight types of spoons and eight types of forks. Each piece of silverware had a specific use. For example, the fork with two tines was a cheese fork, and it was used for eating cheese.

_I guess I need to figure out which utensil goes with which food_, Nancy decided. _Then use them in the right order?_

After a lot of going back and forth between the menu and the book, Nancy finally ended up with a list of which utensils to use. The display case had all the different types of knives, spoons and forks, so she pressed the correct ten utensils in the right order.

The amazing 1871 technology connected to the display case registered the fact that someone pressed the proper ten items in the correct order. The corner of the case slowly pushed out, revealing a golden starburst token, with a picture of an ape on it.

"Yes!" Nancy said. "I did it! I got...whatever this thing is!"

_It's a good thing nobody changed the display case in the past 138 years,_ Nancy thought to herself. _Just think, if only one person accidentally switched two of the forks, it would be impossible to solve this puzzle._

And it definitely _was_ a puzzle. Rita Hallowell's journal talked about eating a celebratory dinner with perfect etiquette. She must have created this device, so that whoever found the journal could get the starburst token.

Nancy scanned the journal again. The clue about the celebratory dinner was on the third page, along with a clue about a Dupin gate and Other Poe Stories. The second page was dedicated to a crow and the reconstruction of the United States. The first page talked about lamps with musical narration for pianos.

Nancy scratched her head. She had no idea what those clues referred to, if they were even clues at all. To be honest, she hadn't even figured out the Victorian dining puzzle on her own. She just let the Junior Detective Task List tell her what to do.

_Speaking of which, let's see what else I have to do now..._ Nancy thought, opening her notebook. It was a rather short list.

**The To-Do List**

1. Work at the Snack Shack  
>2. Get the picture of Megan Vargas from Leela<br>3. Get the gold token from the pesky white squirrel

_Uh oh,_ Nancy realized. _None of those things have to do with the clues in Rita Hallowell's journal. That means...I have to figure out the clues myself!_

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Nancy screamed.


	31. Talking to Paige

"Okay, Nancy, don't panic," Nancy said to herself. "You've deciphered clues left in a crazy person's journal before. You can do it again."

There were about six things in Rita Hallowell's journal which could be clues for puzzles. Then again, they could also be the incoherent ramblings of a madwoman. After all, writing about the kind of music her cat liked? How could _that_ be a clue to a puzzle?

Nancy sighed. At least now she knew what she was doing: collecting golden starburst tokens for...well, for something, at any rate. And Step #1 was getting the starburst token that the squirrel had stolen earlier.

Nancy went outside to the big oak tree. The squirrel was up in the branches, playing around.

"SQUIRREL!" Nancy yelled. "GIVE ME BACK MY GOLDEN TOKEN!"

Someone tapped Nancy on the back. "Becca Sawyer, if you keep yelling at animals, I will give you demerits."

It was Paige Griffen, the building monitor.

"But it took something from me!" Nancy said. "I need to get it back!"

"Yes, I know," Paige sighed. "Casper stole one of my term papers once. I couldn't get it back, so I ended up _flunking the class_ and falling out of the valedictorian race and **it's all that squirrel's fault! **That's when I decided to take out my rage on all the valedictorian candidates by giving them as many demerits as possible!"

_So that's why Paige is always so mean,_ Nancy realized.

"Unfortunately, the school says we can't touch Casper because he's a rare albino squirrel," Paige said. "And we can't climb the tree, because it's over a hundred years old, or something like that. So that _beast_ gets to do whatever it wants, and it's not fair!"

"YOU HEAR THAT, CASPER?" Paige yelled. "I GIVE YOU TEN DEMERITS FOR BEING UNFAIR!"

"Hey, calm down," Nancy said, putting a comforting arm on Paige's shoulder. "Like my friend George Fayne always says, if you think hard enough, you can come up with a solution to any problem."

"You know George Fayne?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, we've been best friends since we were kids," Nancy said. "How do _you_ know her?"

"We're distant relatives," Paige said. "But...you've known her ever since you were a kid? How is that possible? The file I received about you said that you've been in France for the past ten years."

Nancy was happy to finally learn why Paige looked so much like George, but Nancy was _un_happy that, once again, someone was close to figuring out that she was secretly a detective. It was time to avert suspicion with another one of Becca Sawyer's sassy comebacks!

"France? More like _dance,_" Nancy said. "Because...we met at a dance academy?"

"...Right," Paige said.

"It was...ballet?" Nancy said, her ego deflating. "Because...ballet is a French dance? Ballet, more like _okay_, because dancing ballet is just fine and not suspicious at all?"

"You're acting oddly," Paige said.

"Well, that's not because I'm secretly an undercover detective who has only been to France once in her life!" Nancy said. "Because I'm _totally_ a French exchange student! But in any case, I gotta go now! Bonjour!"

Nancy waved at Paige, then ran back inside the school.


	32. Boyfriend Stealing

"Close call with Paige," Nancy said to herself, breathing a sigh of relief. "But I'm pretty sure she doesn't suspect that Becca Sawyer is really Nancy Drew. That would be—"

***beep beep beep***

Nancy almost screamed, when she realized it was her cell phone. She picked it up and read a text message that was sent to the entire school.

_Izzy has date 4 oxbro bash—with Leelas boyfriend! Oops make that ex-BF!_

"Uh oh!" Nancy said. "Izzy stole Megan's boyfriend _and_ Leela's boyfriend? Ouch!"

Nancy decided to never introduce Izzy Romero to her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson. Then, a second text message came in.

_New French exchange student Becca S. doesn't seem to know anything about France. Is she an impostor?_

"Who _is_ this Becca S. girl?" Nancy wondered. "That's the third text I've gotten about her today."

Nancy decided to go to the rec room, so she could talk to Leela about the boyfriend development.

"It's only fair to warn you that I'm not in a very good mood right now," Leela said, right off the bat.

"Because of the Izzy situation?" Nancy asked.

"How could she do it? Did she think I wouldn't mind if she started dating Jacob?" Leela said. "My gosh, it's all over school!"

"Did you know she was interested in him?" Nancy asked.

"I'm not stupid," Leela said. "I could tell she was on his radar. The way she'd look at him and flirt her brains out with him. I just never figured she'd make a move on him while he was still dating _me_. I mean, who does that to their own roommate?"

"I know!" Nancy said. "I'd _never_ do that to my roommate! Not that I have to worry about it, because I don't think Corine has a boyfriend for me to steal, but still. Have you talked to Izzy about it yet?"

"No, and I don't think I will," Leela said. "I'm just going to act like nothing's wrong at all. You know, psyche her out a bit. Get her worried about when and how I'm going get back at her. Because, I will _definitely_ get back at her. That's a promise."

_And considering that someone here has sent one girl to the hospital and another girl to psychiatric care..._ Nancy thought. _Let's just hope, for Izzy's sake, that Leela isn't the Black Cat._


	33. Darts

Nancy was talking with Leela Yadav. Leela was upset about her roommate, Izzy Romero. If Nancy had to be honest, though, she would say that none of the girls at Waverly seemed to make good roommates. Izzy stole boyfriends, Mel gave out her roommate's cell phone number to strangers, and Corine liked to force her roommate into doing her homework.

Really, the only valedictorian who hadn't yet been disqualified from winning "Roommate of the Year" was Rachel Hubbard, and that was because Rachel was in a single room.

"Anyway, enough about that backstabbing traitor," Leela said. "What's up?"

"I wanted to see if you got that picture of Megan Vargas for me," Nancy said.

"Yeah, I got it right here," Leela said. "But the only way you're getting it is by beating me at Scram."

"Another game, I bet," Nancy said.

"This one is a dart game," Leela said. "One person is the blocker, while other is the scorer. The blocker's role is to take numbers off the board and—"

Nancy zoned out while Leela explained how the game worked. Instead of listening to the sports enthusiast, Nancy tried working out the plot for the latest mystery novel she was writing. It was partially based off a case she solved in Detroit, where the culprit was smuggling diamonds inside the teddy bears at a zoo's gift shop.

"And that's all there is to it!" Leela finished. "Any questions?"

"Yeah!" Nancy said. "Why is the dart board so close to the stairs? If someone was coming down the stairs, they could get hit by a dart, and they'd never see it coming."

"You'd have to have _really_ bad aim to miss the dart board by _that_ much," Leela said dismissively.

"If you say so," Nancy said. "Okay, let's get started!" Nancy grabbed a dart and swung her arm around a few times to build up speed.

"Becca, it's not a softball!" Leela said.

"Bullseye!" Nancy said, letting go of the dart. The dart flew straight upwards and got embedded in the ceiling.

"Whoops," Nancy said. "Let me try again."

Nancy's next throw landed in a plant, and the throw after that somehow went behind her and into the snack shack area.

"On second thought, let's forget about darts," Leela said. "It's too dangerous, anyway. Let me get that picture."

While Leela's back was turned, Nancy threw her last remaining dart at the board and got a bullseye. Nancy smiled to herself. All that dart playing at Castle Malloy had given Nancy good aim, but she knew it'd be easier to pretend she couldn't play darts at all.

Leela got the picture out of her bag, then handed it to Nancy. "Here's the picture of Megan you wanted," Leela said.

"Thanks," Nancy said. "Hmmm. Looks like I'll have to take a picture of a picture."

So Nancy took out her cell phone, and that's just what she did.


	34. Nancy Solves the Mystery!

"Did you hear that a book of Edgar Allen Poe stories went missing from the library?" Nancy asked.

"No," Leela said.

"Yeah, me neither," Nancy said, slightly confused as to where she learned a library book was missing.

Suddenly, Nancy Drew was struck by a burst of inspiration, which contained the solution to the entire mystery!

"That's it!" Nancy said. "Edgar Allen Poe! He's the key to the mystery!"

"What?" Leela asked.

"I just thought up a theory about Edgar Allen Poe," Nancy said. "What if he wrote a book of unpublished stories?"

"...That doesn't make sense," Leela said. "You can't write a book of unpublished stories. If the stories are in a book, that means they're published."

"Well...fine, maybe they're _published_ unpublished stories," Nancy said. "Either way, nobody knew about this book, right? And when he was dying, Mr. Poe gave the book to a nurse at the hospital."

"Why did he do that?" Leela asked.

"Not important," Nancy said. "The important thing is that Nurse Hallowell was so inspired by Mr. Poe that she quit her job and decided to go into education. She was one of the founders of Waverly Academy!"

"I'm confused," Leela said. "Is this story real or something you made up?"

"Not important," Nancy said. "Rita Hallowell knew that the published unpublished book couldn't be found, or someone bad would try to publish it. So she decided to hide the book somewhere inside Waverly Academy."

"There's a book of Edgar Allen Poe stories hidden here at Waverly?" Leela asked.

"But it's well-protected, by a series of puzzles!" Nancy said. "Like...a giant pendulum that hangs from the ceiling and cuts someone in half if they try to read it! And a secret society with a spooky chant that corresponds to the numbers on old blueprints!"

"Becca, maybe you should lie down for a bit," Leela said. "You sound...odd."

"I'm just saying," Nancy said. "What if there's something valuable hidden at Waverly Academy—something like a lost Edgar Allen Poe book—and _that's_ what the Black Cat is after?"

"If that's true, then why is the Black Cat attacking valedictorian candidates?" Leela asked.

"Well, she wants to get rid of the valedictorians, because..." Nancy tried to think of a reason. "They might interrupt her while she's looking for the hidden treasure?"

"The Black Cat is attacking people because they _might _interrupt her?" Leela asked. "That's a pretty flimsy reason to send someone to the hospital."

Nancy had to admit, Leela had a point.

"Besides, did you forget it's Midterms Study Break?" Leela asked. "People are so busy that they barely have time to leave their rooms! If you wanted to look for something without being interrupted, now would be the perfect time!"

"Well...true..." Nancy said.

"I'm sorry, Becca, but that's the dumbest idea I ever heard," Leela said. "The Black Cat is attacking valedictorians because she wants to _be_ valedictorian, not because she's trying to find a lost book of stories."

"Oh..." Nancy said, sadly. And she was so sure that she had the mystery solved, too. "Guess I'd better go, then."

"Hang in there," Leela said. "And next time, actually think things through before playing detective."


	35. Uploading the Photos

Nancy sadly walked away from the Rec Room. Nancy _thought_ she had the mystery all solved, but Leela proved that Nancy's theory was rather stupid.

_Maybe I'm not such a great detective after all..._ Nancy thought. _After all, I'm not even close to figuring out who the Black Cat is. All I've done so far is take pictures for Rachel._

Her mind full of sad thoughts, Nancy went to the school computer in the library and logged on. The home page reminded her that she still hadn't done Snack Shop duty yet, and that the book of Edgar Allen Poe stories was still missing from the library.

_More failures..._ Nancy thought.

Nancy knew she had to upload the pictures to the website for Rachel's project, but she wasn't sure where to upload them. After all, over half the pages on the website were down, due to scheduled website maintenance. The "About Us" section didn't seem useful, and neither did the "Library Page" section.

Nancy clicked on "Student Life". This part of the website was home to "The Campus Word", which appeared to be some kind of news article. The article was about the albino squirrel who had stolen a starburst token from Nancy earlier. Apparently, the squirrel was called "Casper", and there was some concern that the squirrel wouldn't be able to collect enough nuts for the winter. Izzy Romero, the author of the article, proclaimed that her efforts had saved the squirrel from starvation.

_That thieving squirrel needs to be locked up, not fed extra food,_ Nancy thought.

The "Student Life" part of the website was also home to the student handbook (yawn), security blotter (someone broke into their room using a student ID card), and Double Take. Double Take was a very simple matching game, and according to the student handbook, you got credits if you received a new high score on the game.

_They give credits for playing games at this school?_ Nancy wondered. _I want to transfer here!_

There was no time for playing games, though. Nancy still had to upload the pictures for Rachel. She double-checked the piece of paper Rachel gave her, which she had forgotten to drop off in her room. The paper said the pictures had to go into the "Valedictorian Race" section of the "Academics" site.

Nancy plugged her phone into the computer's USB port, then opened up the proper website. She uploaded all six photos. She sighed, then crossed "upload the photos for Rachel's project" off her to-do list.

Nancy got up and left the library, still feeling bad that she had made no progress in solving the mystery. Nancy was so depressed that she couldn't even cheer herself up with one of Becca Sawyer's sassy one-liners.

_Waverly Academy? More like, Waverly A-**bad**-emy,_ Nancy thought. _Because I'm bad at solving this mystery..._


	36. Friends?

Nancy went upstairs and into Rachel Hubbard's room.

"Hey, you got everyone's picture uploaded," Rachel said.

"Sure did," Nancy said.

"Fab. Now I need you to do the layout for me," Rachel said. "Just log on to the computer again, and go back to the 'Meet the Candidates' section. There will be instructions on where to put everything."

"Put everything?" Nancy asked. "I thought I just had to take the photos of everyone."

"And now you have to put them in the right places," Rachel said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I'll check the page when you're done to make sure everything's kosher."

"I _guess_ I can do that," Nancy said. It was starting to look like Rachel didn't want Nancy to help with _some_ of the project; it was more like Rachel wanted Nancy to finish the_ entire _project.

Rachel must have picked up on Nancy's reticence, because she quickly added, "In case I forgot to say it before, I'm really grateful for your help. Maybe someday I can return the favor."

"Don't worry about it," Nancy said. "It'll be nice just having you as a friend."

Rachel stared at Nancy, confused. "...Right," Rachel said, shortly.

"You..._do_ know what friends are, right?" Nancy asked.

"Of course I do," Rachel said. "It's just—never mind. It doesn't matter."

"You're not going to make friends with _that_ attitude," Nancy said. "I mean, earlier you were avoiding Mel. What's up with that?"

"Nothing!" Rachel said. "I'm really busy now, Becca! I can't talk anymore!"

"Busy doing—?" Nancy began to say.

"Please, maybe later?" Rachel asked.

Nancy frowned. "Fine," she said. She turned and left Rachel's room.

_Rachel is definitely hiding something,_ Nancy thought. _And I'm going to prove I'm a good detective by figuring out what it is!_


	37. The Website Layout Puzzle

While Nancy went to the school library, she got a text message, which was sent to all the students.

_Mel jst got busted 4 plagiarizing art hist paper!_

"Woah!" Nancy said. "Mel is a plagiarist?"

Nancy made her way to the school computer, and logged on. All the pictures were now on the valedictorian page; Nancy just needed to put them in order. There were six columns, one for each of the six valedictorians. There was a section for each valedictorian, her name, her home city, and her subject of choice.

**Good News:** Rachel had left instructions on where to put everything.

**Bad News:** Rachel's instructions were deliberately unhelpful.

Nancy read and re-read Rachel's instructions. These included "The biology and psych students are roommates" and "Corine is immediately after the girl who chose bio, but somewhere before Izzy."

_WHY couldn't Rachel do this herself, again? _Nancy wondered. _I don't know where anybody is from, or what they like to study!_

"IZZY!" Nancy yelled across the library. "Could you come here for a sec?"

Izzy walked over to Nancy. "What is it, Becca?" she asked.

"Rachel wants me to sort all this info," Nancy said. "But I don't know any of this stuff. I just got here! How would _I_ know everyone's hometown?"

"I know all this," Izzy said. "As Student Body President, it is my responsibility to—"

"Great, you can do this for me!" Nancy said. "Please? I'll call it even between us, since I did your DNA project."

"...Fine, but you'd better not ask me to do anything again," Izzy said, sitting down and typing out the information.

"Deal," Nancy said.

Thus, Nancy joined the proud Waverly Academy tradition of forcing someone else to do your work.


	38. Rachel Wants More Pictures

Nancy returned to Rachel Hubbard's room.

"All right, Rach, I got all the info uploaded!" Nancy boasted. "That's right, me! Becca Sawyer! Without any help from anybody!"

"I saw," Rachel said. "Nice job on the layout."

"It wasn't easy, either," Nancy said. "Some moron left the world's worst instructions on how to make the website. It took _forever_ to figure them out. What crazy teacher came up with _those_ things?"

"...The teacher didn't write those," Rachel said. "_I_ did. It took me a long time to write them, too."

_It probably would have taken less time, if you had just done the layout yourself,_ Nancy thought.

"Anyway, what's next?" Nancy said, quick to change the topic.

"Next, I need you to take a few more pictures," Rachel said, taking out another piece of paper and handing it to Nancy. "They're all things that can be found here in Ramsey Hall. They're all Waverly Icons."

Nancy looked at the list. She had no idea where to find any of those things, except the oak tree in the courtyard.

"The hard thing will be the picture of Rita Hallowell and her cat, Usher," Rachel said. "It's been missing for eons. But if you find it, that'll be such an incredible coup that I might even get put back into the running for valedictorian!"

"I'll give it my best shot," Nancy said. "Are you sure you don't want to, say, give up on becoming valedictorian, so you don't have to do so much work?"

"Give up on a free college scholarship?" Rachel asked. "Not likely, Becca. I know I flunked that test, but there's still a chance I can be valedictorian."

"Not for long!" Nancy said. "Once school starts up again, Becca Sawyer is going to take the valedictorian race by storm!"


	39. Agreeing to Help Mel

Nancy left Rachel's room and took a moment to review...

**The To-Do List**

1. Solve the mystery  
>2. Be awesome<br>3. Become the most popular girl in school  
>4. Never play air hockey with Leela again<br>5. Figure out if Mel is a plagiarist  
>6. Get the gold token from the pesky white squirrel<br>7. Figure out what Rita Hallowell's journal means  
>8. Ask Ned if he wants to go with me to the Waverly Academy Senior Prom<br>9. Find Other Poe Stories  
>10. Work at the Snack Shack<br>11. Get the pictures for Rachel

The pictures for Rachel included a picture of Rita Hallowell, an oak tree, a school trophy, a map of the United States, the entry arch and the school emblem.

"I guess the first thing to do is see if Mel is a plagiarist," Nancy said. "Everything else seems kind of difficult."

So Nancy went to Mel's room. Before Nancy could say a single word, the angry cellist said, "It's not true, if that's what you want to know."

"You're _not_ going to repaint this room?" Nancy asked.

"No, I'm not a plagiarist!" Mel said. Then she paused. "You think I should repaint my room?"

"It's, um, awfully pink," Nancy said. "You might want to try opening a window once in a while."

"Black suits my mood," Mel said darkly. "Should I be cheery about the fact that they're trying to kick me out of the school? I know _you_ got kicked out of that school in France, but some of us are more worried about our academic careers."

"I did _not_ get kicked out of the school in France!" Nancy argued. "I kicked _them_ out! And if I _did_ get kicked out of school, it wouldn't be for something stupid like plagiarism! It'd be for something like my sorority egging the dean's car after finals!"

"What, you think _I'd_ be stupid enough to plagiarize something?" Mel asked. "I'd never cheat, especially not in an obvious way where I'd be sure to get caught!"

"How _did_ you get caught, then?" Nancy asked.

"I was busted by Turn it in dot com, I mean, Paper Trail," Mel said. "Apparently, 40% of my art history essay is a direct match to someone else's essay."

"Whose essay?" Nancy asked.

"I don't know," Mel said. "And they won't _let_ me know, either. It's so frustrating. I'm being kicked out unfairly, and I can't even defend myself."

"That's too bad," Nancy said.

"If I could only log in to Paper Trail, I can see the essay I supposedly plagiarized," Mel bemoaned. "But they cut off my Internet access!"

"Well, _I _still have Internet access," Nancy said. "Maybe I can help you."

"You'd _do_ that?" Mel asked.

"Sure," Nancy said. "What are friends for? Without you, this place would be a lot less musical."

"_Thank you_," Mel said. "And it's really simple, too. Just enter one of the database source numbers for my essay, then select the proper IP address."

"...I have no idea what you're talking about," Nancy said.

"I got a glimpse of the IP address before the school booted me offline," Mel said. "I didn't get a chance to write it down, but I _do _remember that none of the numbers repeated."

"What?" Nancy asked.

"The IP address you want is ten digits long," Mel said. "None of the digits repeat."

"Let me get this straight," Nancy said. "Instead of trying to memorize the number, you spent your time checking if the digits repeated?"

Mel looked embarrassed. "I...it was what I noticed , okay?" she asked. "I was a little distracted by the fact that I'm being kicked out of Waverly!"

"Calm down, Cello Princess," Nancy said, holding up her hands. "I'll get you that IP number. Just wait."

Mel gave the allegedly plagiarized paper to Nancy, and Nancy left the room. Furious cello music followed her as she went to the library.


	40. Using Paper Trail

Nancy logged on to the school computer, for what must have been the fifth time in under an hour. If the school librarian had been there that day, she would have become concerned about Nancy's computer usage.

Nancy got on to Paper Trail, through the Academic Resources section of the school website. She typed in one of the many citations on the left side of Mel's paper. The computer responded with a screen that said _IP address not found. Pick from the last twenty known IP address strings._

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Nancy said.

Twenty IP address strings appeared onscreen, divided into four columns. Luck was not on Nancy's side, as they were all mixed up in a random order. She would have to figure out which four IP address strings were the ones she was looking for, without any clue to go on, besides "none of the digits repeat".

Nancy sighed and started guessing. Logic seemed to dictate that, if the final number was ten digits long, it would have two strings of three numbers each and two strings of two numbers each. That eliminated _some_ of the possibilities, making her job easier.

As Nancy worked, she got a text message from Mel, sent to the whole school.

_Becca S. got kicked out of the school in France, because her sorority egged the dean's car after finals._

Nancy laughed. That was the sort of crazy stunt that Becca Sawyer, Nancy's current alias, would have enjoyed participating in.

"That Becca S. girl sounds crazy!" Nancy said. "I've _got_ to meet her! It's so weird I've met all the other girls here, besides Becca!"

Eventually, Nancy came across the correct IP address, which was 69-57-284-103. This led to an essay by Jacob Pryce, posted on November 18th.

Nancy double-checked Mel's essay. It was dated November 17th.

"Hey, Mel's essay was written one day before Jacob's!" Nancy said. "That means she _couldn't_ have plagiarized her essay! Mel's innocent!"


	41. Interrogating Izzy

Our heroine, Nancy Drew, had just found the evidence which proved Mel did not plagiarize her art history paper. The paper in question had, in fact, been written by Jacob Pryce, long after Mel's paper.

Nancy thought for a moment. "Jacob Pryce..." she said to herself. "Could this be the same Jacob that's currently dating Izzy Romero?"

Nancy decided to ask Izzy and find out. She went to the part of the library where Izzy was studying and started up a conversation. "Hello, Izzy," Nancy said.

"How's it going?" Izzy asked.

Not one for tact, Nancy blurted out, "What's this about you stealing Leela's boyfriend?"

Izzy seemed annoyed, as if many other people had already asked her that. "The guy asked me to Oxborough's holiday bash, and I said yes," she said. "Big whoop."

"But he was dating Leela!" Nancy said. "That's...that's against the boyfriend code!"

"It's a free country," Izzy shrugged. "He can date whomever he wants."

"But...the code!" Nancy said. "Stealing someone's boyfriend goes against the boyfriend code AND the roommate code!"

"Look, I don't steal boyfriends, okay?" Izzy said. "I don't have to. Guys're just naturally attracted to me. I know how conceited that sounds, but it's the truth. Leela had her chance with this guy. She couldn't cut it, so now he's into me. She's just gonna have to deal with it."

Nancy wanted to object some more, but that wasn't important to the conversation or the investigation. Reluctantly, Nancy changed the topic.

"Did you hear Mel was accused of plagiarizing someone's paper?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I'm _not_ surprised," Izzy said. "Like I said, she's psycho."

"Here's the interesting thing," Nancy said. "The paper she was accused of plagiarizing? It was written by Jacob Pryce. Your, ahem, boyfriend?"

"What, you mean Jacob framed her?" Izzy asked. "Yeah right."

"Who else could it have been?" Nancy asked. "The Black Cat?"

"It was probably Mel herself!" Izzy said. "She's trying to make it look like she was framed! Or she was trying to frame Jacob!"

It didn't take a genius to discredit that theory. "Why would Mel risk getting kicked out of school, in order to frame herself for a crime she didn't commit?" Nancy asked. "That makes no sense."

"I don't know," Izzy said. "I'm just saying, just because Jacob's name came up, it doesn't mean I'm involved. Don't forget, up until very _very_ recently, Jacob was Leela's boyfriend."

"Hmmm..." Nancy said. She wasn't sure if she believed that, but there wasn't any concrete proof which tied Izzy to the crime.


	42. Reporting to Mel

Since Izzy wasn't admitting anything, Nancy decided to return to Mel.

"Hey, Becca," Mel said when Nancy entered. "So, did you get it for me?"

"Get what?" Nancy asked.

"The paper I allegedly plagiarized!" Mel said. "You got it, right?"

"Uh...well, I didn't print it out or anything..." Nancy said.

"Becca!" Mel said. "I _need_ to see that essay! If I don't, I could get kicked out of Waverly!"

"Look, don't worry," Nancy said. "I checked the dates on both essays. Your essay was written on the 17th, and the other essay was written on the 18th. If anything, someone plagiarized _you!_"

"So all I have to do is tell the school to double-check the dates, and I'll be in the clear?" Mel asked. "Oh, thank you, _thank you_, Becca! This is so good, I can't believe it!"

Personally, Nancy couldn't believe that the school didn't check the dates. That's sort of an obvious thing a school should do, before accusing a student of plagiarism.

"But that means someone purposely copied from my essay," Mel deduced. "Who? Who tried to frame me?"

"Jacob Pryce," Nancy said. "Izzy's new boyfriend."

"The one she stole from Leela?" Mel asked. "Well, well, well. What a surprise. So either Leela or Izzy got her boyfriend to frame me. Too bad they both hate me, or I'd be able to figure out who did it."

"Maybe it was the Black Cat who did it," Nancy said. "Maybe...maybe she's jealous, because you have black hair!"

"What?" Mel asked.

"Yeah, black cats have black fur, right? That means the Black Cat has black hair!" Nancy said excitedly. "That's why she's been attacking all the brunettes in school!"

"Becca, that makes no sense," Mel said.

"It makes perfect sense!" Nancy said. Then she gasped loudly. "Wait a minute, _you_ have black hair! That means..._YOU'RE THE BLACK CAT!_"

"Just because my hair is black, it doesn't mean I'm the one who's attacking everyone!" Mel said. "Besides, my hair's not _all_ black. I have pink streaks."

"Darn," Nancy said. She was looking for the Black Cat, not the Black Cat with Pink Streaks. For a second there, Nancy thought she had almost solved the mystery.


	43. Nancy Phones a Friend

"Hey, I got something a newbie like you might enjoy," Mel said, holding out a newspaper clipping. "It's got lots of info about Waverly."

"Uh...thanks," Nancy said.

"You can keep it," Mel said. "I already know everything there is about this place."

Nancy took the newspaper clipping and read it. By crazy coincidence, it talked about the trophy that Rachel wanted a picture of.

"Perfect!" Nancy said. "See ya!"

Nancy headed downstairs and found the trophy in the newspaper clipping. She took a photo of it with her cell phone.

"That's one photo down," she said. "Better get some of the others."

It was easy enough to take a picture of the oak tree outside, the front of the building, and the school logo on the floor of the main room. However, Nancy had no idea where she could get the missing Rita Hallowell picture. Nancy also didn't know where the hand-carved map of the US was, either.

"Time to check my task list for a clue!" Nancy said. She flipped open her task list, but all it had listed was "get the photos for Rachel".

"Shoot, that doesn't tell me _where_ to take the photos," Nancy said. "Well, if the task list isn't helping, I guess I can always phone a friend."

That's why Nancy called her boyfriend Ned.

"Hey, Nan, what's going on?" Ned asked.

"I need a hint," Nancy said.

Always accommodating, Ned said, "Tell me what you need, and I'll do my best."

Now, Nancy _was_ going to ask about the pictures, but for some strange reason, she couldn't talk about that. It was like her conversation topics were limited to only one thing, which was "According to Rita Hallowell's journal, I need to play something on the piano, but I have no idea what that something is."

"Take a good look around the foyer," Ned suggested. "There are a couple of things that might _shed some light_ on the subject."

"Sounds good. Thanks for the help," Nancy said.

"No problem. See ya, Nan!"

"Bye!" Nancy said.

_Boy, I'm sure lucky to have a boyfriend who knows how to solve puzzles without having even seen them!_ Nancy thought.

She hung up the phone and went to the foyer. Ned's _shed some light_ clue obvious referred to the lamps here. She turned the lampshades around, and she noticed there was writing on them.

"Aha! This is some kind of music puzzle!" Nancy said. She gave herself a pat on the back, then realized something.

"I don't know anything about music!" she said. Nancy quickly pulled out her phone and called Ned again.

"Nancy? You're calling again so soon?" Ned asked.

"I need another hint," Nancy said. "I don't know how to read musical notation."

"I'm not going to give you two hints in a row," Ned chided. "Figure this puzzle out on your own."

"Aw..." Nancy said.


	44. Snack Shack

Nancy had just discovered some kind of musical notation, written on the lampshades in the main room. Rita Hallowell had written these notes herself, over 150 years ago. It was very fortunate the lampshades hadn't been replaced in all that time.

"Gee, and I thought they would have replaced the lightbulbs at least a dozen times by now!" Nancy said. "Maybe nobody noticed the writing when they changed the bulbs."

Nancy went to the library and used the school computer to look for a book about musical notation. The only book about music was currently in the possession of Mel Corbalis.

"Back to Mel," Nancy sighed. Nancy had spent so much time in Mel's room at this point that Nancy figured she might as well move in and become Mel's new roommate.

Nancy went to Mel's room and started a conversation with the pink-loving cellist.

"Hey, Mel," Nancy said. "Can I borrow that book you have on musical notation?"

"Sure thing," Mel said. "As long as you get me a cookie and some milk from the snack shop..."

"Milk and cookies?" Nancy wondered. _Are you Santa Claus in disguise?_

"It's not that I'm too lazy to get them myself," Mel said. "It's just..."

"You have a certain image to maintain," Nancy said.

Mel winked and said, "And milk and cookies don't exactly enhance it."

"Well, that settles it," Nancy said. "If goths can't get cookies, then I'm _never_ becoming a goth. Maybe I'll become a police officer instead. Or a teenage superhero."

"Uh..." Mel said.

"_To the Snack Shack!_" Nancy said in her most heroic voice. She ran out of Mel's room, dashed through the hallway, then flew down the stairs. To be more accurate, she tripped and fell down the stairs, but it kind of looked like flying. Either way, she ended up at the Snack Shack.

Nancy picked up the clipboard explaining the Snack Shack instructions, then proudly announced, "All right everybody! Snack shop's open!"

A crowd of starving teenage girls appeared out of nowhere. Nancy had no idea where they came from, because none of them lived in the dorm. How did they know to come to the Snack Shop at the very second it opened?

The first order was for granola, an apple and a chocolate bar. That was simple enough. Nancy just picked up those items from their places on the counter.

The second order was for lettuce, lettuce, tomato and lettuce on a toasted bagel.

"Really?" Nancy asked. "_That's_ your order?"

"What?" the girl asked. "I'm trying to watch my weight!"

Nancy rolled her eyes as she put together the order. "Next time, ask for something normal," she suggested.

The next girl asked for a meat-and-cheese sandwich, with an apple. Nancy made the sandwich just fine, but she was confused to find that the apples were in the fridge with the milk.

_I guess the people here don't like warm apples,_ Nancy thought.

The fourth girl asked for six cookies and two Koko Kringle bars.

"My kind of order!" Nancy said. She gave the chocolate to the girl, then stopped when she got stuck.

"Uh...I don't see any cookies here," Nancy said.

"You must be the new girl," the girl who ordered said. "The cookie dough is in the fridge. Just put them in the oven."

Nancy checked and sure enough, there was raw cookie dough in the fridge. She took out eight things of cookie dough—six for the customer, two for herself—and put them on aluminum foil in the oven.

"You can come back in a half-hour to pick them up," Nancy said. "They're—"

*Ding!* went the oven.

"Whaaaaaaaa?" Nancy said. She opened the oven, and eight perfectly-finished cookies came out.

"It can bake cookies in five seconds?" Nancy asked. "What kind of oven is this?"


	45. The Music Puzzle

Nancy finished her Snack Shack duties with no major problems, and she even remembered to get milk and cookies for Mel.

"There, all done!" Nancy said.

Suddenly, a key flew across the counter and landed in front of Nancy.

"HEY!" Nancy said, looking around. "Who's the jerk who threw a key at me when I wasn't looking?"

No one was in sight. Nancy shrugged, then put the key in her pocket. She grabbed the paper bag containing Mel's food, then returned to Mel's room.

"You've got my snack! Awesome!" Mel said.

"Here ya go," Nancy said, handing over the paper bag.

Mel handed over the book about music. "All yours," she said. "Why do you want a book on musical notation, anyway?"

"I need it so I can play the piano downstairs," Nancy said.

Mel looked slightly suspicious, as if Nancy was attempting to steal her role as Waverly's main musician. "Why do you want to play piano?" she asked.

"Uh...um..." Nancy said. "I'm...writing a musical! Yeah, that's it!"

"You're writing a musical," Mel repeated.

"Yeah, it's for the school play I talked about in Chapter Nine!" Nancy said enthusiastically. "I'm calling it _Warnings at Waverly Academy! _It's about an undercover detective named Nancy Drew, who enrolls at Waverly under a fake name."

"Nancy Drew?" Mel asked.

"Yeah, that's my real na—" Nancy began to say. Then she realized she almost blew her cover. "Whoops, I mean, that's the _character's_ name! She's the one who solves the mystery of the Black Cat."

"And just who _is_ the Black Cat?" Mel asked.

"I dunno," Nancy said. "I haven't written that part yet."

Mel shook her head. "See you later, Nancy," she said.

"Bye, Mel!" Nancy said.

Nancy skipped away from Mel's room. She was halfway down the stairs, when she realized that Mel had called "Nancy".

"Uh oh," Nancy said. "Mel knows my real name."

This wasn't the time to worry about her cover being blown, though; this was the time to solve the musical notation puzzle.

Nancy went back downstairs and took the lampshades off of the lamps. Then she pressed all the right notes, according to the book. It wasn't _too_ difficult; all she had to do was follow the diagram.

When Nancy pressed all sixteen notes in order, a hidden compartment opened, revealing a starburst token.

"That's the second one!" Nancy said, picking it up and doing a little victory dance. "All right!"


	46. New Gal Pals

It was starting to get late, and Nancy wasn't sure what to do next. At this point, it seemed like all she had to do was find lost things, such as the lost Edgar Allen Poe book or the lost picture of Rita Hallowell and her cat.

While Nancy was considering what to look for next, she got a text message. This one was a picture of Corine and Izzy, looking like good friends. The message with the picture said _Chk out the nu gal pals!_

"Izzy and Corine are friends now?" Nancy asked. That was somewhat odd. After all, Corine was apparently a social outcast, just like Rachel or Mel. Why would Izzy Romero, AKA Miss Popular, spend time with Corine?

Another text message soon followed. This one read _3 wrds re gal pal pic, geniuses - FAKE FAKE FAKE! - Iz_

Nancy decided to go back to her room to talk to Corine. Corine was playing a princess dress-up game online, but as soon as Nancy entered the room, she switched to another webpage and pretended to be working on her English essay.

"Hey, Corine," Nancy said.

"Hey, Becca," Corine said. "I haven't seen you all day. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, the usual," Nancy said. "Going around the campus, getting to know where everything is, having Leela force me to play twelve air hockey games in a row..."

"Sounds like a busy day," Corine said. "I've been busy with my homework."

"I see that," Nancy said. "So anyway, what's this I hear about you and Izzy being friends all of a sudden?"

"You got the text?" Corine asked. "Oh my gosh, wasn't that _so cool?_ There I was, hanging with my new BFF, Izzy Romero!"

"Yeah, but..." Nancy said. She tried to think of a polite way to say what she wanted to say. "Izzy seemed to think the picture was...faked."

"Oh, no, it's real," Corine said. "I _definitely_ have friends in real life, and thanks to that picture, the whole school knows it. Sure, Izzy's probably feeling a little annoyed by all this attention, but that's her problem."

"Who sent the text message, do you know?" Nancy asked. "I couldn't tell because it was anonymous."

"It wasn't _me_, if that's what you're asking," Corine said. "I'm guessing Izzy sent it."

"Then immediately denied it," Nancy said.

"Uh...yeah," Corine said. "She may be my BFF, but she's also kind of odd."

_The odd thing is that this school lets people send anonymous text messages to all the students,_ Nancy thought. _You'd think they would monitor that kind of stuff._

Nancy yawned. "I'm kind of tired after my flight today," she said. "I think I'll go to sleep early. Good night."

Nancy turned off the lights on her side of the room, then crawled into her bed and fell asleep.


	47. Poems and Tree Climbing

Nancy's dreams that night were odd, to say the least. For some reason, Nancy dreamed about Edgar Allen Poe. In a sinister voice, the man began to recite _The Raven_...

_Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,  
>Over many a quaint and curious...<em>

"CUT!" a loud voice in Nancy's dream said. "Try again!"

Edgar coughed loudly, then restarted his poem.

_Once, at a place called Waverly, the upstate girls academy,  
>There was quite a mystery, for Nancy to explain.<br>Ah, Miss Drew was rather keen to understand what it could mean,  
>With Mel and Izzy and Corine, the scene was quite insane.<br>Rachel Hubbard was out of sorts, Leela only cared about sports,  
>Yet, according to reports, one of the girls was the Black Cat.<br>Nancy asked herself again, "Who will be valedictorian?  
>How many girls will be hurt by then? <em>_I wish that I knew that."_

_The Black Cat left notes, obscene and vile, heralding upcoming trial,  
>And then, in just a little while, poor Nancy would be next.<br>Could she stop the horrid crime? Solve the mystery in time?  
>Or would she fall in muck and grime? Alas, Nancy was vexed.<br>While she nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,  
>As of someone gently rapping, rapping at the window pane.<br>" 'Tis a squirrel," she muttered. "Tapping at the window pane.  
>Really, something quite mundane."<em>

Nancy's eyes suddenly opened, as she woke up from her dream. There _was_ a squirrel tapping at the window pane. It was the same squirrel who had stolen a starburst token earlier. In fact, the squirrel had the token in its mouth.

"Come back here, you thieving squirrel!" Nancy shouted. Of course, she shouted as quietly as possible so she didn't accidentally wake up Corine. After all, according to Nancy's phone, it was well after 11:00 PM.

Nancy threw open the window, and she saw the squirrel climb up the tree. At the very top, he put the token inside his nest.

Nancy sighed. She knew what she was about to do was stupid and life-threatening, but she _had_ to get that starburst token back.

Nancy crawled out onto the large tree branch, then started climbing the tree. She was sure to test each branch, before putting her weight on it. It was rather slow going, but eventually, Nancy reached the top of the tree. She put her hand inside the squirrel's nest and got the missing starburst token, which was stuck among a bunch of papers.

"YES!" Nancy cheered.

Suddenly, Nancy heard ominous chanting. She looked down. At the base of the tree were eight people, all dressed in cloaks. They were standing in a circle and chanting something.

Nancy tried to climb back down the tree so she could hear the chant, but no luck. As if by an invisible signal, the person in the light blue cloak left. The other people—all wearing dark blue cloaks—followed.

Nancy grabbed her phone, so she could at least take a picture of this mysterious scene. That's when she saw that it was midnight.

"Spooky," Nancy said.


	48. Oklahoma

Nancy climbed back down the tree and went back to sleep. This time, her dreams weren't filled with strange poems and nightmares, so she slept peacefully until her alarm rang.

"Time to get up already?" Nancy asked sleepily. She reached out a hand to turn off her alarm, but she only succeeded in knocking her phone to the ground.

"Nuts, there goes my phone," Nancy said. She rolled out of bed and crawled under the desk, where her phone was. Nancy was surprised to see two other items there.

One was a Black Cat note which read _Time's up._

_Looks like Danielle __got a second note from the Black Cat,_ Nancy realized. _Why was it hidden under a desk, though?_

The other item was a small piece of wood, carved to look like the state of Oklahoma.

"Uh...what is Oklahoma doing here?" Nancy asked.

"Oklahoma?" Corine asked.

Nancy backed away from the desk and showed the piece of wood to Corine. "Yeah, I found this thing that looks like Oklahoma."

"That's probably from the US map," Corine said.

"What?" Nancy asked.

"You know, the one downstairs?" Corine said. "Just leave the rec room and it's on your right. They've got it locked up due to midterms study break, though."

Nancy remembered that she had to get a picture of the US map for Rachel's project. "Hey, thanks!" Nancy said.

This left Nancy with a big question, though. Why would Danielle steal a state from the US map, then hide it under her desk? Nancy tried to think up a good explanation.

* * *

><p><em>Three weeks earlier...<em>

"Stupid Oklahoma!" Danielle Hayes screamed. "Rejecting my application to Canute College! I'll show _you! _I'll hide you under my desk, where no one will ever see you again!"

Laughing maniacally, Danielle removed the state of Oklahoma from the map.

"NOW MY REVENGE IS COMPLETE!" Danielle shouted.

* * *

><p>Nancy blinked in confusion, then considered putting Danielle at the top of her suspect list.<p> 


	49. Mel's Barrette

Nancy opened the door to her room, and she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. It had a cat pawprint on it, complete with a note reading _Go back to France._

"Hey, guess who just got a note from the Black Cat?" Nancy asked.

"Congratulations," Corine said. "Just don't go all Danielle on me, okay? Stay away from food closets."

Nancy laughed weakly. Making jokes about someone who was sent to a psychiatric ward seemed rather cruel. After all, Nancy figured that if _she_ was locked overnight in the Safety Hazard Supply Closet, she'd come out with mental issues, too.

Nancy made her way outside of the building, going to the large oak tree. She was hoping to find some evidence about the mysterious group that met by the tree at midnight. Sadly, the lightly falling snow covered up all the evidence that could have been there.

_Wait a minute... _Nancy thought.

Reaching into the snow, Nancy pulled out a purple-and-black barrette. There was only one person in Waverly Academy who would wear that much black and purple.

Nancy made a beeline straight for Mel Corbalis' pink-flavored room.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie!" Nancy said. "Look, I—"

"Well, if it isn't the girl with the fake name," Mel said loudly.

"Shhhh!" Nancy said, checking to make sure the door was shut. "Don't...don't say that out loud!"

Mel scowled at Nancy. "You don't want people to find out the truth, do you?" she asked.

"That's not it!" Nancy said. "The whole Nancy Drew thing...that was just a joke!"

"So you're _not_ really an undercover detective?" Mel asked.

"Guh..." Nancy said.

"You can't fool me," Mel said. "I looked you up online. You're quite the detective, aren't you? You've solved mysteries all over the world."

"Yeah..." Nancy admitted. "The headmistress wanted me to come here to find the Black Cat."

"I see," Mel said. "And what have you found so far, Little Miss Sleuth?"

"I found _this_," Nancy said dramatically, taking out Mel's barrette.

"My barrette?" Mel asked. "What's so important about that?"

Nancy went into her Genius Detective Mode.

"I found it in the snow, next to the oak tree," Nancy said. "Judging from the amount of snow left on it, and based off the meteorological patterns of this area, I can safely determine that it was dropped around midnight. Meaning _you_ were at the oak tree at midnight.

"It took me a while to analyze the footprints," Nancy continued. "As far as I can tell, there were probably six people there. But most of the prints were wiped away by some kind of heavy fabric. They matched with the fibers on the barrette, which leads me to conclude that they were part of the same outfit.

"Cloaks, in fact. You were wearing heavy cloaks, which dragged on the ground, partially erasing the footprints. And you must have been wearing them with the hoods up, because it knocked your barrette off when you took the hood off."

"That...that's amazing," Mel said, impressed. "Wow! You've been playing dumb this whole time, when you can analyze everything like a pro!"

"Not really," Nancy said. "You guys were making noise last night, so I looked out the window and saw you."

"Oh," Mel said. "That makes more sense."


	50. The Blackwood Society

"So, tell me," Nancy said. "Why were you with a bunch of other girls last night, wearing cloaks and chanting?"

Mel scowled. "None of your business," she said.

"Do you want me to tell the headmistress about it?" Nancy asked.

"Fine," Mel sighed. "You don't tell anyone about this, and I won't tell anyone you're really an undercover detective."

"Deal," Nancy said. "Unless, you know, you _are_ the Black Cat, and this has something to do with it."

"It has nothing to do with the Black Cat," Mel promised. "What you saw was a meeting of the Blackwood Society. It's a secret club that someone at Waverly founded, shortly after the school started. Only seven girls a year get to be members."

"It's...a club?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, we meet about once a month," Mel said. "Everyone wears a black cloak, except the leader. Hers is light blue. We meet by the oak tree and chant for twenty minutes. That's it."

"That's it?" Nancy asked.

"Yes," Mel said. "There's no talking or socializing, and everyone whispers, so you can't tell who they are. We literally just stand in a circle and chant about numbers for a while. Nothing else."

Nancy thought about this for a moment. Either Mel was telling the truth, or she was telling the weirdest cover story ever.

"It's the truth!" Mel said. "I know it seems strange, but personally, I like all the secrecy and anonymity. The unknown is something I've always felt...drawn to."

Nancy shook her head. "Let me get this straight," she said. "The Blackwood Society is a top-secret club at Waverly Academy."

"That's right," Mel said. "Not even the teachers know about it."

"You meet once a month, under the oak tree, at midnight," Nancy said. "Why meet so late, at such an out-of-the-way location?"

"We do it for privacy," Mel said. "That way, nobody outside the club will accidentally see or overhear a meeting."

"I found out about the club on my first day here, so you guys _might_ want to rethink your privacy policy," Nancy pointed out. "So at these top secret midnight meetings, everyone wears a cloak to hide their identities."

"Actually, we wear cloaks because it gets cold at night during the winter," Mel said.

"Oh," Nancy said. That made a lot of sense. "And during these meetings...the only thing you do is chant about numbers."

"Yes," Mel said.

"...For twenty minutes," Nancy said.

"I know it sounds suspicious, but I swear it's true," Mel said.

"I believe you," Nancy said. "However, I've got one more question."

Mel cringed. "Yes, Detective Drew?" she asked.

Nancy gave a huge grin. "How do I join this club?" she asked enthusiastically. "This sounds like the coolest club _ever!_"


	51. A Brief Confrontation

"You can't join the Blackwood Society," Mel said. "Only _real _students can be members."

Nancy wanted to argue, but Mel had a point. Nancy would be long gone, by the time the next month's meeting occurred.

"Anyway, that's all you'll get me to say on the matter," Mel said. "I'm not going to tell you anything else."

Nancy scowled. "Impeding my investigation will get you added to my suspect list," Nancy said, pulling out a pen. "I'll write this down in my notebook, and...where's my notebook?"

Mel shrugged. "How would I know?"

"I must have left it in my room," Nancy said. "Be right back."

Nancy left Mel's room, and she went back to the room she was sharing with Corine. "Hey, Corine," Nancy said. "Did I leave my notebook in here?"

Corine glared at Nancy.

"What?" Nancy asked.

"I overheard Mel shouting at you a few minutes ago," Corine said. "You've got a fake name?"

"You were spying on me?" Nancy asked. "That's not nice!"

"Neither is lying about your true identity," Corine said, narrowing her eyes. "So dish."

"Fine," Nancy said. "You're right. My name isn't really Becca Sawyer."

"So _that's _why I couldn't find you online!" Corine said. "So what's your _real_ name, Little Miss Liar?"

"My real name," Nancy began. She took a deep breath. "Is Rebecca Saywer."

"Oh," Corine said.

"Becca is just a nickname," Nancy explained.

"I know what nicknames are," Corine said. She sighed a little bit. "Darn, and I was hoping for the gossip of the century."

Nancy smiled to herself as she picked up her notebook, then left the room.


	52. Time Travel

Nancy looked at her to-do list again. She had been a busy detective lately, so most of the items on the list were crossed off already.

**The To-Do List**

1. Put Oklahoma back on the map of the United States  
>2. Get a picture of the map of the United States<br>3. Find a way into the locked classroom with the map of the United States  
>4. DO THE UNITED STATES MAP PUZZLE ALREADY!<p>

"I get the sense that I'm supposed to do the United States map puzzle now," Nancy commented. "But wait...there's a disclaimer here!"

In small print, the notebook stated _United States Map Puzzle must be completed after curfew_.

"No problem!" Nancy said, pulling out her phone. "Time Travel Powers, activate!"

Nancy set her phone to 11:00 PM, and instantly, she travelled through time to later that night. It was one of the more useful features of her cell phone.

When Nancy returned, she found herself sitting in one of the chairs on the top floor. Standing in front of her was Paige Griffen, the angry building monitor.

"Miss Sawyer, where have you been all day?" Paige asked. "You forgot to do Snack Shop duty! That's one demerit!"

"Oops," Nancy said.

"Now all the girls are starving!" Paige said. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I...uh...I got your term paper!" Nancy said.

"What?"

"Your term paper," Nancy said, pulling it out of her bag. "You know, the one that Casper the Squirrel stole! I spent the day finding it and getting it back for you!"

Paige's eyes went wide as she saw the long-missing term paper whose disappearance caused her to flunk out of biology class. "I...this..." she said.

It was the nicest thing one of the valedictorian candidates had ever done for Paige, considering that she was always yelling at them and giving them demerits.

"Yes...well...it's still curfew time!" Paige said. "If you don't go to your room, you'll get demerits."

"Okay, I'm going," Nancy said, heading back to her room.

"And Becca? ...Thanks," Paige said.

"Anything for a friend," Nancy smiled.


	53. Nancy Kills America

Once Paige was gone, Nancy snuck out of her room and went downstairs. The double doors leading to the classroom with the map of the United States were locked.

"Ugh, why'd I leave my lock-picking kit at home?" Nancy said to no one in particular. She took a closer look at the lock, which was an extremely simple one. In fact, it was so simple that...

_Hope this works,_ Nancy thought. She pulled out Amber Sullivan's student ID and slid it through the space between the two doors. The door on the right then opened.

"Yes!" Nancy said. "If this detective thing doesn't work out, a life of crime could be in my future!"

Nancy strolled into the classroom and put the state of Oklahoma on the US map. Remembering Rachel's orders, Nancy took a picture of the map.

"That was a simple challenge," Nancy said. She turned to leave, and stopped dead. One of the pillars had a picture of a raven on it. It looked exactly like the raven in Rita Hallowell's journal. Nancy quickly opened up the journal and read it. The journal mentioned four body parts that ravens have, complete with a diagram.

Reaching a hand out to the picture on the pillar, Nancy touched it. The various wooden pieces could be pushed in—a little bit, anyway. She pushed the four body parts that were mentioned in the journal.

The wooden plate with the raven on it spun around in a circle. Nancy barely had time to wonder what was happening, when she heard a large crash behind her. Turning around, she saw that the map of the United States was completely ruined. Every single state, except for Washington, was now lying on the floor.

"Oh no! I killed America!" Nancy Drew exclaimed.

There was nothing else for Nancy to do, but try to fix the country. Her knowledge of geography wasn't the greatest—in her defense, River Heights High doesn't have a US geography class—but she had a picture of the completed US map on her phone. It took ten minutes for her to complete the huge jigsaw puzzle.

When the last state was in place, there was a loud clicking sound. She turned to see the pillar with the raven picture on it. The pillar was once again rotating, and this time, it rotated to the point where a starburst token was in sight.

Nancy took a moment to marvel at the absolutely amazing technology on display here. Did Rita Hallowell invent some kind of wireless transceiver which sent information from the US map to the pillar? Or were there wooden gears and pulleys, running through the floor, which connected the two devices?

Nancy shrugged while she grabbed the fourth—and final—starburst token. She didn't know what the tokens were for yet, but she felt satisfaction for a job well done. She had single-handedly fixed the United States of America, something all the politicians in Washington DC were unable to do.


	54. Rachel's Secret

Nancy was about to go back to her room, when she noticed someone in the hall. Peering through the glass windows on the door, Nancy could clearly see Rachel Hubbard, sneaking around. Rachel carried a tray of food, and she was looking around a corner to make sure no one was there to see her.

*BEEP BEEP!* chimed Nancy's cell phone. Nancy took out her phone, and she saw that the sound had come from one of the fancy, specialized programs that Nancy's friend George had created. This particular program was called "The Rachel Hubbard Activity Tracker".

"I _knew_ downloading this app would come in handy!" Nancy said. She opened the application to learn that the readings for Rachel's activities had gone from "normal" to "super suspicious".

Nancy scratched her head, wondering what to do next. Her instincts told her to chase after Rachel and see where Rachel went. But then again, the last time Nancy tried to trail a suspect, it hadn't gone well. Nancy was _supposed_ to be following an international jewel smuggler, but she accidentally ended up following the wife of Police Chief McGinnis. Needless to say, Nancy had spent the night in the holding cell at the River Heights jail.

_This time, I won't screw up_, Nancy thought to herself. _Besides, there's nothing wrong with following another person in the middle of the night...right?_

Nancy slowly followed after Rachel Hubbard. Rachel didn't go far; she went straight to her room.

Nancy quietly tried the doorknob. It was locked, but the lights in the room were on. Nancy decided not to knock on the door, in case that would wake up people in the nearby rooms. Instead, Nancy took out Amber Sullivan's ID card and used it to open the lock on the door.

Nancy stepped into the room, just in time to see the wall slide in. The room was completely empty.

_What?_ Nancy wondered. She went straight to the wall and examined it. There were star designs, as well as a circular piece that moved. Nancy experimented a bit, and she could move the circular piece from star to star. The stars lit up, once the moveable piece landed on them.

_I guess I have to try to light up all the stars, _Nancy thought. She played around with the wall for a while, making liberal use of the reset button, until she found the solution.

Once all the stars were lit up, the door slid open, revealing a staircase that went up. Nancy followed the staircase, where she saw something shocking. Rachel Hubbard was sitting on a bed...and Rachel Hubbard was sitting at a desk, eating from the tray of food.

"Oh my gosh!" Nancy said. "There's _two_ of you?"

"Oh no!" one of the Rachels said.


	55. Kim

Caught red-handed, the Hubbard twins tried their best to explain everything to Nancy.

"Our mother is dead, and our father is absolutely useless when it comes to raising two girls," one Rachel said. "We thought if we didn't get accepted into a boarding school, we'd end up in foster homes."

"We applied everywhere, and Waverly agreed to give one of us a scholarship," the other Rachel said. "So...we decided to share it."

"The two of you have been here for four years, pretending to be the same person," Nancy summarized.

"Besides for taking a few leftovers"—one of the Rachels gestured towards the plate of food on the desk—"we haven't done anything wrong. You have to believe us. If we _were_ doing something wrong, we would have been found out by now."

Nancy thought about it, as she considered her previous interactions with Rachel. "The two of you must switch places every now and then," she concluded.

"Exactly," one Rachel said.

"That's why the second time I went to your room, you didn't recognize me," Nancy said. "And that's _also _why you said you didn't like Mel, but then later you said you liked her. Those were two different Rachels!"

"Technically, only _I'm_ Rachel," the Rachel on the left said.

"I'm Kim," the Rachel on the right said.

Nancy looked back and forth between Rachel and Kim. The two were identical twins, so there was no way to tell them apart. The only difference Nancy could see was that Kim had tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Nice to meet you," Nancy said. "Have you two really been doing this for four years?"

"Yes," Rachel said. "And we've only got one more semester to go! We're so close! You can't tell anyone, Becca!"

"Please!" Kim begged. "If you tell, we'll get kicked out of school! That's why the Black Cat—"

"Kim!" Rachel said.

"Oops," Kim said.

"Woah, what?" Nancy asked. "What's this about the Black Cat?"

"Well...you know how I told you I haven't gotten any Black Cat notes?" Kim said. "That's because she knows about us."

"Huh?" Nancy asked. Now she was completely confused.

"The Black Cat somehow found out that there's two of us," Rachel explained. "She's been blackmailing us ever since, forcing us to do her dirty work."

"So _you_ locked Danielle in the closet!" Nancy accused.

"No!" Rachel said. "All we've done is make the Black Cat notes and deliver them, I swear!"

"Whoever the Black Cat is, she's obviously setting us up to take the fall," Kim said. "If she gets caught, she'll frame us for everything while she goes scot free! You've got to do something!"

"Why me?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah," Rachel said. "Why are you telling her all of this?"

"If she tells, we'll be kicked out anyway!" Kim said. "But Becca can help us! She can figure out who the Black Cat is—and then we can blackmail the blackmailer!"

"A stalemate! Yes!" Rachel said. She high-fived Kim.

"Heh heh," Nancy said. _This _was an interesting situation. "Well, I _could _play detective and try to figure out what's going on. I've always wanted to try my hand at detective work."


	56. Investigating Izzy's Room

Nancy wanted to spend more time talking to Rachel Hubbard and her twin sister Kim, but the two girls convinced her to leave the hidden attic area.

"You should go," Rachel ordered. "No one cares if one of _us_ is missing, but if the new girl suddenly disappears...?"

"I understand," Nancy said. "It's late, anyway. See you tomorrow."

The twins waved goodbye as Nancy left their room. Nancy went straight to her own room and fell asleep almost immediately. She didn't wake up until very late the next morning, when her phone beeped.

_I have got to stop wandering around at night,_ Nancy thought. _It's wreaking havoc on my sleep cycle. Now who's messaging me?_

Nancy opened up the list of messages she had received. The most recent one had come from Mel.

_Hey, Nancy,_

_I heard that the missing Edgar Allen Poe book is inside Izzy's room. Why don't you use your detective skills to check her room, then bust her? I'm sure the headmistress would love to learn about the student body president stealing library books._

_-Mel_

Nancy yawned, then got out of bed. She changed into her spare set of clothes, then tried brushing her hair for a bit. Then she made a beeline for Izzy and Leela's room. The door was locked, but at this point, Nancy had broken into so many rooms that it didn't even phase her anymore. She quickly pulled out the ID card and used it to get into the room.

_Well, at least I know how the Black Cat manages to sneak around so much,_ Nancy thought. _As long as you have a student ID, you can get anywhere in this school._

The room was clearly separated in half, with Leela's things on the left and Izzy's things on the right. Leela's possessions included sports trophies and sports equipment. Izzy's side had her campaign poster and a lot of purple things.

Nancy made her way to the work desk, which had two framed photos on it. The photo on the right was of Jacob, the boy who dated both Izzy and Leela. The photo on the left side of the desk was of Izzy, looking rather smug. It wasn't a flattering picture.

_Wait...why is the photo of Izzy on Leela's side of the room?_ Nancy wondered. _And if Izzy has a work desk in her room, why does she use the one in the library?_

Nancy picked up the photo, planning to remove it from the frame and draw a mustache on Izzy's face. There was a key taped to the back of the frame. Nancy took the key and used it to open the trunk by the base of Izzy's bed. Inside the trunk was a familiar-looking blue cloak.

"Izzy's the leader of the Blackwood Society!" Nancy gasped. "Either that, or she's a walking fashion disaster."

Nancy also explored the area in front of Leela's bed. Buried under some sports equipment was the copy of The Black Cat and Other Poe Stories that had gone missing from the school library.

INVESTIGATION COMPLETE.


	57. Could This Be the Treasure?

Nancy Drew was ready and prepared to finally, _finally_ solve the mystery. According to Rita Hallowell's journal, Nancy had all the clues. She had the four starburst tokens and The Black Cat and Other Poe Stories. All Nancy had to do was put these clues together.

"Well..." Nancy said, taking a closer look at the book. "There are four tokens, and each token represents a certain story. The token of the cat represents _The Black Cat_, the bug token must be _The Golden Bug_, and the raven token is probably..._The Fall of the House of Usher_."

That was as far as Nancy got. Was there some place to _use_ the tokens? Why were there dates hand-written next to the story titles in the book's table of contents? And what time did they serve meals at Waverly Academy? Nancy was starving after two days of not eating a full meal!

_I've got to figure this out!_ Nancy thought. _My flight out of New York leaves tomorrow! If I don't solve the mystery by the end of today, it might never be solved!_

Nancy decided to take a walk outside and clear her head. There was more snow than the previous day, and Nancy was starting to think it'd be nicer inside when she noticed doors on the ground.

_Waverly has a basement?_ Nancy wondered.

Wiping away the snow, Nancy found that the doors were locked. Fortunately, Nancy had the right key for the lock. It was the same key that someone threw at Nancy, the first time she worked at the Snack Shack. Perhaps the anonymous rude person had been trying to help her.

Nancy opened the lock and went into the basement. Turning on the lights, she saw that it was a rather dank room, dominated by an old-fashioned furnace which had probably been there when the school was built. Boxes of old books were in a corner, and in another corner, the brick wall was loose.

Nancy looked closer. No, there _were_ no bricks here. There were wooden planks. Planks with starburst-shaped indentations in them!

_Jackpot!_ Nancy thought. _There are seventeen starbursts here, and seventeen stories in the book! I guess I have to arrange all the stories according to the dates in the book, number the starburst holes from left to right, put the tokens in the appropriate starburst holes and..._

_No, wait. I've got a better idea._

Nancy picked up a nearby brick and used it to smash the wooden planks in half. The wood was about 150 years old, so it crumbled easily.

Behind the wood was a little hidey hole, containing an old box. Nancy grinned. Rita Hallowell's treasure! This _had _to be it! Nancy opened the box and pulled out some blueprints.

"Blueprints? Weird," Nancy said. They appeared to be blueprints for the room she was standing in.

Underneath the blueprints was a photograph of Rita Hallowell and her cat, Usher. Besides for that, the box was empty.

"Oh, NO WAY!" Nancy exclaimed. "_That's_ the treasure? A picture from Rita's photo album? I've been solving puzzles for the past two days, just so I could get an old photo?"


	58. The Last Picture

Our heroine, Nancy Drew, was rather upset. Rita Hallowell's fabulous treasure was nothing more than an old photograph.

"This doesn't make sense!" Nancy said, flipping through Rita Hallowell's journal to make sure there were no mistakes. "I thought the treasure was something fabulous, like an unpublished book by Edgar Allen Poe! And besides, this doesn't explain what Rita wrote about the Dupin grate and the black wood's chant!

"Wait a second...black wood's chant..." Nancy thought. "Does that refer to the Blackwood Society? Hmmm..."

Nancy wasn't sure, but maybe, just _maybe_, there were a few more puzzles left to find before she got the real treasure.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Nancy told herself. "Rita left a fake treasure, just to trick people! The _real_ treasure is still out there, and I'm going to find it, or my name's not Becca Sawyer!"

Nancy paused for a second. "Well, my name's _not_ Becca Sawyer. That's just a fake name I'm using so no one knows who I am, and—oh, who cares? I'm going to catch the Black Cat and find the real treasure! That's what matters!"

Finding the photograph of Rita wasn't a _total_ loss. That was one of the pictures Rachel needed for her web design project. Figuring it was best to wrap up that little assignment, Nancy took a picture of the photograph. Then Nancy went to the library and uploaded all the photos to Rachel's website.

Immediately afterwards, Nancy went upstairs to Rachel's room, to confirm that the web project was finally done.

"Becca, hey, you got all the pictures uploaded!" Rachel said. "You even found the picture of Hallowell and her cat, great job! There's only one thing we need before we're done."

"You want some fashion tips, right?" Nancy asked. "Good, 'cause I've been wondering why you're wearing a turtleneck and a suitcoat jacket at the same time. Those two types of clothing do _not_ go together."

"No!" Rachel said. "Corine wrote an essay that won some kind of fancy award. The English Department wants it on the school website, so I need a copy of it."

"Oh," Nancy said. "I guess I can do that, too."

"Any idea who the _real_ Black Cat is yet?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I haven't seen any students with pets here, but have you considered the possibility that it's actually a real cat?" Nancy asked.

"No," Rachel said. "She keeps sending me emails, remember? Every time, it's from a different address, so I can't track it."

"Shoot," Nancy said.


	59. Corine's Essay

Nancy left Rachel's room. Rachel made a good point. Nancy really _hadn't_ done much investigation into the identity of the Black Cat. That was mainly because Nancy was distracted, trying to find Rita Hallowell's treasure.

Nancy decided to resume her investigation, and she pulled out her...

**Suspect List**

1. Mel Corbalis, pink-loving goth cellist. She is in a club that meets at midnight, wearing cloaks.  
>2. Izzy Romero, student body president. She <em>runs<em> the club that meets at midnight, wearing cloaks.  
>3. Rachel Hubbard. She is secretly two people. Call me crazy, but I think most students are one person.<br>4. Leela Yadav, sports superstar. Seems incapable of doing anything unrelated to air hockey.  
>5. Corine Meyers, my roommate. Socially isolated, with subconscious desires to get back at her peers.<br>6. Becca S., French transfer student. I keep getting text messages about this girl. Who is she?

"Really, it could be any one of these students," Nancy said. "But I haven't talked with Corine for a while. I should see what's up with her."

Nancy went back to her room and started a conversation with Corine.

"Hey, Corine, how are things going with the library?" Nancy asked.

"Horrible," Corine said. "Somebody destroyed three Special Collections cabinets, and we had to pay to get them replaced. It used up our entire budget!"

"What a shame," Nancy said. "Hey, I heard that something you wrote won an award! Congrats!"

"Yes, it was a short story I wrote about a lonely girl who goes to a school where everyone ignores her," Corine said. "It slowly causes her to become filled with rage at her classmates, and she attacks them all, one by one, disguising her actions as the work of a criminal called the White Dog."

"Er...that's great," Nancy said. "But I was talking about your essay."

"Oh, that," Corine said. "Yeah, I didn't think my paper was _that_ great, but for some reason, the entire faculty went gaga over it. I'll copy it onto a flash drive for you. But could you do me a favor first?"

"Sure," Nancy said.

"I'm absolutely starving," Corine said. "And since you're snack shop boss, why don't you get me something to eat? Soon as you do that, I'll get you the essay."


	60. Izzy's Information

Nancy was going to leave the room, when she saw something on the ground. Picking it up, she saw that it was another Black Cat note.

"A second Black Cat note!" Nancy said. "Something bad happens to anyone who gets two of them, right?"

"Right," Corine said. "You'd better be careful from now on."

"It could be for you," Nancy pointed out. "It's not like there's a name on it."

She showed Corine the note, which read _You were WARNED. Now you'll PAY._

"Uh...in that case, we should _both_ be careful," Corine said. "Come back with my food, okay?"

"Sure," Nancy said. She left the room, then went downstairs to the Snack Shack. Getting snacks for the various students wasn't too interesting, but at least Nancy got to overhear some interesting gossip.

"Did you know Izzy once got her huge earrings stuck on a doorknob? How embarrassing!"

"I heard that Mel hopes to work at Disneyland for a living!"

"Corine stole the school blueprints for some unknown reason."

"Leela hasn't left the Rec Room in over a week! I'm really starting to get worried about her."

"Did you see Rachel and Izzy's rap battle last week? Rachel's rhyming skills are the BEST!"

"You know that new girl? Becca Something? The one from France? I heard that she talks to herself."

"_That's it!_" Nancy shouted. "Snack Shop is closed!"

The various people in line complained, but Nancy closed up shop and went back to her room. She traded a sack of food for a flash drive containing Corine's essay.

Nancy went to the library next. She got on the school computer and uploaded Corine's essay for Rachel's project. The essay was about Edgar Allen Poe's mysterious death. It seemed that Mr. Poe died while surrounded by malevolent forces: a corrupt doctor, an executor who was Poe's rival, and perhaps worst of all, Nurse Rita Hallowell. Knowing Ms. Hallowell, she probably forced her patients to undergo a series of puzzles before they could check into the hospital.

Izzy was in the library, as usual, so Nancy decided to talk to her. "Hey, Izzy," she said.

"Hello, Becca," Izzy said, turning from her laptop to talk to Nancy. "What's up?"

"I've got a...request," Nancy said. "I need to know what the Blackwood Society's chant is. You're the leader, right?"

"All right, who blabbed?" Izzy asked.

"Uh...I'm not at liberty to say," Nancy said. "But since you _are_ the leader, you can tell me the chant."

"Why should I do it?" Izzy asked, looking suspicious.

"Because we're friends, and you're a really nice person?" Nancy guessed.

"I'm the Student Body President," Izzy said. "I rule this school, Becca. No one's going to force me into doing something, especially not an uppity transfer student like you."

Nancy decided it was time to put Izzy in her place, by using another one of Becca Sawyer's sassy comebacks.

"Transfer student? More like...uh..._transform _student," Nancy said. "Because I will transform Waverly Academy! If you don't tell me the chant, that is."

"Ugh, whatever," Izzy said. "It's not like it even makes sense, anyway. 'Three is fine, but five is more. Even nineteen defeats four. Should just seven become lore, at least two will find the door.'"

"Thank you," Nancy said.


	61. The Chapter With a Cliffhanger

"Now that I know about the Blackwood Society, can I become a member?" Nancy asked.

"No," Izzy said.

"But I _really_ want to join! It sounds cool!" Nancy pleaded.

"No, and that is final!" Izzy said. "I'm the leader, so I get to choose who joins! And I will NEVER choose a girl I don't like!"

"What about Mel?" Nancy asked. "She's in the club, and you don't like her."

"She was invited before I become the leader," Izzy said. "Now beat it, Becca. I've got work to do."

Seeing as she wasn't going to get any more information out of Izzy, Nancy decided to return to her room. She was somewhat surprised when she entered. For the first time since Nancy had arrived sixty chapters ago, Corine was not in the room.

Nancy took this opportunity to snoop through Corine's things. There wasn't much of interest, besides some graph paper and a note which read "CELLAR".

"Corine is in the cellar?" Nancy asked. "What a coincidence! I was just about to go there myself!"

Nancy returned to the cellar, now that she had all the information needed to get Rita Hallowell's treasure. Corine wasn't in the cellar, but there was a set of blueprints there.

Nancy compared these new blueprints to the ones Rita Hallowell had left behind. The blueprints showed that the valves on the Dupin furnace were numbered. So far, it looked like everything matched Rita's notes.

"Do I match the blueprint numbers with the Blackwood Society's numbers?" Nancy asked. She pulled the six numbers in order, and the grate to the furnace opened up.

Nancy peeked at the opening, which was big enough to crawl through, when a commanding voice said, "Stop!"

Nancy turned around. Standing in front of Nancy was a girl she had never seen before. She had heavy eyeshadow, and she looked furious. A black beret was dangling on the side of her fire-red hair.

"Becca Sawyer!" Nancy gasped.


	62. Becca Sawyer

"Yes, that's right," Becca said. "I'm Becca Sawyer. The _real _Becca Sawyer."

Nancy's jaw dropped. "Impossible!" she said. "Becca Sawyer isn't a real person! That's just a fake name I've been using!"

"Fake? More like, _give me a break,_" Becca said. "You didn't even bother to check if I existed before you stole my identity, did you?"

"No, because you're not real!" Nancy said. "Rebecca Sawyer is just a dumb name I made up, by putting together two names from Tom Sawyer!"

"Tom Sawyer? More like, _call a lawyer_," Becca said. "Because I'm suing you for identity theft, Nancy Drew!"

"I don't believe it," Nancy said, slumping back against the wall.

"As soon as I heard some bumbling American detective was pretending to be me, I came here from France as fast as I could," Becca said. "Do you know what sort of damage you've done to my reputation? Everyone thinks I'm a bumbling weirdo!"

"Huh? No way!" Nancy said. "Everyone likes me as Becca Sawyer! I've been working really hard on fitting in!"

"_Tu dis des absurdités_," Becca said. "I know you're unpopular here. I saw all the tweets and text messages. Texts? More like, _wrecks! _Because you've wrecked your only chance at fitting in here at Waverly."

"That's not true!" Nancy said. "I might not be the most popular girl, but I've made a lot of friends! Mel and Rachel and Paige and Leela and—"

"Stuffed animals don't count," Becca said.

"Did you come all the way from France to be mean to me?" Nancy asked. "Look, I'm sorry for borrowing your name without permission, but you don't have to be rude about it!"

"Here's what you're going to do," Becca said. "You are going to tell everyone—right now—that you are _not_ Becca Sawyer. Then you're going to publicly apologize for making me look ridiculous."

"I can't do that!" Nancy said. "I'm an undercover detective! I can't tell people my real identity! It'll hurt my case if I do!"

"And it'll hurt my reputation if you _don't!_" Becca said.

"Look, I'm about five minutes away from solving the mystery, finding the lost treasure and stopping the Black Cat," Nancy said. "Can't this wait until _after_ that?"

Becca Sawyer hesitated for a second. "Finding the lost treasure?" she asked. "What lost treasure?"

"Rita Hallowell's treasure," Nancy said. "I think it has something to do with Edgar Poe."

"I don't know who those people are," Becca Sawyer said. "But...if word got out that Becca Sawyer solved a mystery and found a treasure..."

"Yes?" Nancy asked.

Becca thought it over. "Okay, Nancé," she said. "I'll give you one more day. Solve this mystery by then, and let Becca Sawyer get all the credit. If you don't, confess everything."

"It's a deal!" Nancy said, giving Becca a hug. "Yay! New friends!"

"Augh! I am not your—ah, whatever," Becca Sawyer said. "Good luck with the mystery, American Becca."


	63. The Black Cat

Becca Sawyer left the cellar, so Nancy returned to the mystery. The hidden passageway which was part of the school furnace was now opened, so Nancy crawled through the dirty grate in order to reach the hidden room.

Nancy's heart flooded with anticipation, because she knew this was the end of her adventure. At the other end of the short tunnel, Nancy would find the Black Cat, the culprit who had been attacking all the girls at Waverly. Nancy pushed and pulled herself out of the end of the tunnel, then stood up.

In front of Nancy was something that looked like a stone altar. A rough-looking book was on top of the altar, and standing behind it was Corine Meyers, Nancy's roommate.

"Becca!" Corine said, jumping backwards a bit. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Catching you red-handed," Nancy said. "The entire Black Cat scheme was just a distraction, so you could get your hands on—what is that, anyway?"

"What do you think?" Corine asked. "It's Rita Hallowell's treasure: a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's unpublished manuscripts. Before he died, he gave all his unfinished works to her. I've been looking for this for two months now."

"How did you know it was here?" Nancy asked. "_I'm _the one with Rita Hallowell's journal."

"She had a journal?" Corine asked.

"Yeah, it's filled with clues and puzzles that led me to this room," Nancy said.

Corine looked upset. "Darn," she said. "If I knew there was a journal from the beginning, that would have made things simpler. All I knew was that Rita Hallowell hid her treasure _somewhere_ in the building."

"So you stole the blueprints and searched the dorm room by room," Nancy guessed. "That's how you found out about Rachel's twin sister in the attic."

"Oh, you're _good_," Corine said. "You've been in school for three days, and in that time, you've found out what took me months to learn."

"There's a reason I'm a valedictorian candidate," Nancy said. "It's not just because I'm an undercover detective."

"You're a detective?" Corine asked.

"Oops," Nancy said.

"They hired a detective to catch me?" Corine asked, sounding impressed. "I didn't think the headmistress took me _that_ seriously. But if that's true, Becca, I guess we have a standoff here. You can't let me get away, and I can't let _you _get away."

"It's over, Corine," Nancy said. "Just give up quietly."

"Too bad for you, I've got an ace up my sleeve," Corine said. "I've had plenty of time to examine this room and find the deadly trap that Rita left behind."

"The...deadly trap?" Nancy asked.

"Yoink!" Corine said, as she grabbed the book, accidentally-on-purpose set off the trip-stone, then escaped through the back entrance before it shut.


	64. The Pit and the Pendulum

"Argh!" Nancy said. The doors to the room were sealed, and it looked like she was trapped. A loud metallic sound came from above, and she looked up.

"Oh, no," Nancy said. "No no no no no no no no no!"

From the top of the room, Death's scythe descended. It swung back and forth, as if on a pendulum. On each swing, it fell lower and lower. Half an inch, an inch, maybe more? Nancy could do naught but watch in horror as the unstoppable instrument of her inevitable demise came closer and closer and CLOSER!

There was only one thing Nancy could think of doing at this point. She pulled out her cell phone and called her boyfriend.

"Hey, Ned," Nancy said. "How's it going?"

"It's fine," Ned said. "How's the mystery coming along?"

"I'm almost done, but I need another clue about Edgar Allen Poe," Nancy said. "You're the English expert, so I thought I'd ask you. Did Mr. Poe ever write a story about, I dunno, a giant axe falling from the ceiling?"

"An axe?" Ned asked.

"Yeah, an axe which is swinging back and forth and getting lower and lower," Nancy said, noticing that the axe was now only about two feet above her head. "And I need this information _really quickly_."

"Sounds like _The Pit and the Pendulum_," Ned said. "That's a story where—"

"How did the person in the story escape?" Nancy interrupted.

"He didn't," Ned said. "He got some rats to—what's going on there, Nan? I can barely hear you."

The swinging of the axe was loud to begin with, and now that it was much closer, the noise was so great that it made phone conversation impossible.

"Hold on a second, Ned," Nancy said. She walked over to the other side of the altar, which was as far away from the path of the pendulum as possible.

"Sorry about that," Nancy said. "Something's making a lot of noise here. Anyway, how did he escape?"

"He got some rats to chew the ropes that had him tied down," Ned said. "That let him escape the pendulum, but he was still stuck in a torture pit. It wasn't a good situation."

"Poor fellow," Nancy said. "Why was he being tortured?"

"The story doesn't say," Ned said. "It starts with him being sentenced to death by torture, but we never learn why."

"Well, thanks for the information," Nancy said. "That _really_ helps."

"You're welcome," Ned said. "But what does _The Pit and the Pendulum_ have to do with your mystery?"

"Let's just say that I may have found a lost book written by Edgar Allen Poe," Nancy said. "I'll be back home soon. I'll tell you about it then."

"Sounds great!" Ned said. "See ya!"

"Goodbye," Nancy said, before hanging up the phone. She stretched out her arms and said, "Okay, sounds like I need to find some rats and—huh?"

The pendulum axe reached the ground, then retracted back up to the top of the ceiling. Both exits to the room opened up again.

"Oh," Nancy said. "All I had to do to avoid the axe was step out of its pathway. That was simple."


	65. Captured!

Corine Meyers had planned to escape through the hidden tunnel that connected Mel's room and the furnace room. It was a good plan, except for one small problem: Mel Corbalis.

"No," Mel said, blocking the doorway. "I'm not letting you out of here until I get some answers."

"Mel, you have to let me through," Corine said. "I need to get going."

"You just came into my room _through the wall_," Mel said. "I demand an explanation."

"Come on, Mel, it's too long of a story," Corine said. "Now let me past."

The two of them were still arguing, when Nancy Drew heroically stumbled into Mel's room, using the same passage Corine had taken.

"Don't let her escape, Mel," Nancy ordered.

"You, too?" Mel asked. "What _is_ this?"

"For Corine, it's over," Nancy said. "I'm calling the Headmistress right now."

Nancy took out her cell phone and pressed the eighth speed dial number. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore?" Nancy said. "It's Nancy Drew. I just caught the Black Cat."

* * *

><p><strong>One Week Later...<strong>

Nancy was typing on her laptop.

_Shortly afterwards, Corine was kicked out of Waverly Academy. From what I heard, her victims are expected to make a full recovery, and they'll be back at school by the time the next semester starts._

"Hey, Nance, whatcha doin'?" Ned Nickerson asked.

"Writing a book," Nancy said. "It's going to be about the mystery I solved last week. I call it Warnings at Waverly Academy."

"Catchy title," Ned said. "What made you decide to start writing a book, though?"

"I got an email from the big publishing company who got the rights to publish the collection of lost Edgar Allen Poe works I found," Nancy said. "They said they would _love_ it if I wrote the story of how I found the lost literary masterpiece."

"Is that right?" Ned asked. "Maybe I can help you edit it."

Ned _did_ help Nancy edit her book. Some of his comments were helpful ("Try to be more descriptive here") and some of his comments were not so helpful ("Instead of saying 'the detective called her boyfriend,' you should say, 'the detective called her _incredibly handsome _boyfriend.'")

After about a month, Nancy finished writing the book, and she sent it to the publishers. They had a number of editing suggestions to make, and the book was published the next year, under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.

Nancy's book was a small success. It didn't make the top of the bestseller list, but it was still popular enough that she was asked to write another mystery book. She immediately said yes. If there's one thing Nancy Drew had in steady supply, it was plenty of good mystery stories.

The biggest surprise, in Nancy's opinion, was that some videogame company out in Washington got the rights to make her book into a computer game. But that's another story.


	66. Graduation Day

**Six Months Later...**

It was graduation day at Waverly Academy. Nancy had been invited to attend the ceremony, even though she had only been a student there for three days. Of course, Nancy accepted the invitation. She liked being able to see all her friends at Waverly one last time, before they went off to their various colleges.

Nancy had kept in touch with most of the people at Waverly, so she had some idea of what happened over the past six months.

When Mel's roommate recovered and moved back in, they got in a huge fight over the fact that Mel had painted the room pink. That inspired Mel to write a cello piece she called, "The Walls Are Pink, _Deal with It._"

Leela was made permanent Snack Shop Monitor after Nancy left. The teachers argued that Leela spent all her time in the rec room anyway, so she might as well make herself useful.

Izzy was, well, still Izzy. She managed to get accepted into Harvard, even though she hadn't become the valedictorian. The number of boyfriends she had stolen in her time at Waverly was in the double digits.

Rachel and Kim Hubbard were kicked out of Waverly Academy for committing "audacious fraud". Thanks to the urging of some alumni, the twins were reinstated as students shortly afterwards. They weren't allowed to join the valedictorian race—the school thought it was unfair for two people to compete as one person—but they didn't care.

The girls at Ramsey Hall all got to sit in the front row, during the official ceremonies. Everyone looked impressive in their graduation robes. Leela wore a sports jersey over her robe. Mel's robes were pink. Rachel and Kim had matching robes that made them look like twins.

Once the commencement address was finished, the headmistress came onstage. "Before we hand out the diplomas, there are two very special graduates I have to take note of," the headmistress said. "The first is our valedictorian for this year, Paige Griffen!"

Izzy slumped down in her seat. "It is _such_ a rip-off that Paige won," she muttered. "She was out of the running for months!"

"All because she found her lost term paper," Leela said. "I can't _believe_ Becca—I mean, Nancy—gave it to her!"

"It was the right thing to do," Mel shrugged. "Although I kind of wish she hadn't done it, either."

However, no one could hear the grumbling of the losers of the valedictorian race, over the loud applause that Paige received. Paige went onstage to get her special diploma and award.

"And our second special graduate," the headmistress continued, "is none other than our good friend, Nancy Drew!"

Nancy fell out of her seat. "WHAT?" she shouted.

"For special services to the school, and for her unparalleled achievement in the field of American literature, we are pleased to present her with this honorary diploma," the headmistress said.

"I...graduated?" Nancy asked. "WAHOO! I graduated!"

Nancy ran onstage to get her diploma, and everyone applauded, even though she tripped over a microphone cord on her way up. Getting the diploma—and the party afterwards—made it the best day Nancy ever had at Waverly Academy.

* * *

><p>"Well, <em>that<em> trip was worth it!" Nancy said to her father, once she had returned home. "I'm now an official Waverly Academy alumnus!"

"I'm very proud of you," Carson Drew said.

"Who would have thought I could graduate from a school, even though I was only there for three days?" Nancy asked. "And Waverly's a really prestigious New York school! This'll look _great_ on my resume!"

"You might have a diploma, but I'm still expecting you to pass all your classes at River Heights High," Carson Drew reminded his daughter. "From what your teachers say, you still have _plenty_ of unfinished makeup work to do."

"Darn," Nancy said.

**The End**


End file.
